Snake in the Toilet
by DemonFox38
Summary: Splinter gets violently accosted by a bizarre snake in the sewers. Our heroes have to find a way to heal him, but end up tangling with the Foot clan once again! With new friends & old allies, can the turtles fight their way outta this mess? Finished!
1. On a Precarious Chain

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Snake in the Toilet

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Author's Note:

_TMNT belongs to Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird of Mirage Studios. _

This story is rated **PG-13**for bloody violence and some foul language. You were warned.

Domo Arigato to the people that review. This is my first attempt at a TMNT fan-fiction, although I am not necessarily a newbie at this. Please review with positive criticism. (Kind of an oxymoron, eh?)

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Chapter 1---On a Precarious Chain

Of all God's creatures great and small, rodents probably have the worst lot in life. Almost every animal eats rodents. There's a reason why rabbits have so many babies—most of them, if not all, will be eaten. Also, most humans have issues with some types of rodents, fearing them for some reason or another. Why do you think there are so many different types of rat traps at Wal-Mart, right next to the cockroach hotels and ant poisons? Rodents have it bad—but at least it's not as bad as being an insect.

When you think about it, rodents are not all that terrifying. They have no venom; they are small, easily killed. In fact, most of them only cause damage to gardens or sometimes carry diseases. Even in big bad New York City, rodents aren't the most terrifying thing to deal with. There are many more animals that are worse than rodents—many humans even dare to keep these wild beasts as pets.

Snakes are probably the most horrible creatures known to mankind. In Genesis, the Devil as a snake convinced Eve & Adam to commit the first sin. They are cold-blooded, bearing no legs or fur. They can eat almost anything they can get through their jaws, some which can dislocate them. The worst thing about snakes, however, is not the way they look, or the way they act, or even their Biblical and Historical past. Perhaps the single most disturbing fact about snakes is the many ways they can kill.

The first thing a snake can do to kill is to simply bite into an animal's neck, crushing their vertebrae and instantly snapping their spinal cords. Failing to kill their prey in that technique, some snakes have such potent venom that they can even kill Elephants in 3-4 hours. If that wasn't terrifying enough, snakes can at least rely on one last strategy—to constrict its prey, breaking every bone in its ribcage and suffocating it to death. Undoubtedly, snakes know how to kill in any situation.

Suddenly, that spider in your bedroom window isn't so bad after all, is it?

We are brought to perhaps the most disgusting place known to mankind—the New York City sewers. It's been rumored that alligators that were flushed down the toilet can live down there. Other times, it's mutated humans or animals banished to a life of shame that live in the raunchy atmosphere. For certain, there will always be rats in the sewers; rats are amazing at adapting that way. In this case, however, there is no pursuit for rats, mutants, or alligators. 

The only thing to look for is an elongated, leg-less devil that has been crawling down here for ages—and as luck would have it, it has found its next prey. 

This snake, a common boa constrictor, is of particular interest. It has been exposed to toxic waste and radiation for over fifteen years, which has caused it to swell into large proportions and give off a paralyzing saliva. Where did this constrictor come from? Perhaps it was once a household pet that was disposed, or an animal that had escaped from one of New York's zoos. What it once was does not matter at this point; this is our silent enemy, one that is large and lithe enough to consume us.

As for the prey, he is a common, graying rat you'd expect to find in any sewer. This rat, however, began his life as a beloved pet of a respectable Ninjistu artist. After a few wrongs turns and twists around the road of life, he has found himself here, in this most despicable place. His current life, however, is not as desperate as one would image; he has his pupils, his sons by love alone, to watch over. So, this rat-being feels like a human, has the shame of a human, walks, talks, acts—but is not a human. 

This rat, whom we may call Sensei for the moment, is taking a mild stroll down the large tunnels of the sewers. Sensei would undoubtedly like to walk into a temple or a park like us, but many humans would be terrified at the thought of a fully-clothed person like him. So, for the unbending world, the rat is walking in the 1912-constructed sewers, enjoying the freedom of movement. Even in the darkness of the sewers, he can find inner peace. Home is where the heart is, even if it's in a sewer.

Sensei hears nothing as he walks along the narrow corridors, careful not to fall into the sewage. If anyone were to come for him, he would hear them—after all, even his sons would eventually step into a puddle and alert him to their presence. What he is not expecting is the lean, 20-something-foot snake closing in around him from the ceiling. The constrictor is slithering throughout pipelines, wrapping himself around anything on the ceiling. The boa is very interested in Sensei—and approaches with trained quietness.

Then, there is the sound of something dropping down from the ceiling, teeth bared, lunging onto the hapless rat.

Sensei has with him only a small wooden walking pole, but this does not mean he can't defend himself. Side-stepping the attack of the snake, large ivory teeth slice into the left side of his robes. Blood awakens both primal senses within the creatures, heightening the master's fear and the snake's anxiety. Never-the-less, the two fight as if they were competing by the codes of Bushido, although only one knows them by heart. Each creature waits for the other to move, watching every muscle, eye, and tail movement in anticipation.

The master strikes first, agility unhampered by his age. He lands a solid blow in the center of the snake's cranium, making the sound of cracked bone and the screech of the snake ring throughout the halls. In retaliation, the snake lands a successful bite into the rat's shoulder, biting into his collar bone and the back of his neck. Sensei is paralyzed by ancient fear, but manages to cling onto his cane. He manages to pry himself loose from the bite, stabbing his staff into the mouth of the constrictor.

The snake, with jaws like titanium, easily devours the staff whole, leaving Sensei defenseless. More blood spills onto the floor as the snake attempts to strike the master again, finding its nose blooded by the claws of the rat-man. Without any registration of pain, the snake coils around the rat, not bothering to get a strong bite on him again. Within mere seconds, Sensei finds himself gasping for breath, the boa's coils compressing his ribs tighter and tighter with every movement. The rat's vision becomes dizzy, and he blacks out, still desperate for oxygen.

As far as the constrictor was concerned, the battle was over. He loosened his coils, preparing to devour his dying foe whole. Sensei did not stir, his body betraying his spirit. The boa lowered his head into the darkness, leaving only a silhouette of the rat-man's cost of defeat. The true terror came from what the eye couldn't see in the dark, the sight of a creature gorging itself on the body of an innocent.

Or, so it was, until a second and a third creature appeared out of the shadows.

The first creature to strike was a humanoid turtle, barely fifteen years old. In his hands were two sharp, silver katana blades, lethal as a tiger. His shell bore several scars of previous battles, some he had to fight alone. Around his brown eyes he wore a bandanna of bright blue, describing his calm, cool personality. However, in this situation, he had lost his natural composure, reacting only on instinct and indignant anger. This turtle, the leader of his brothers, was the soul known only as Leonardo. 

Leonardo heard his father's fight echo down the halls of the sewers, and he had come to aid him as fast as he could. With a sudden anger like a tsunami, the turtle had sliced into the bulk of the snake's hide. The boa gagged on his prey, vomiting the rat back up and turning to his new, deadlier assailant. Leonardo found only a glint of fear in the constrictor's eyes, and he hoped that his inner fear did not show either.

Another brother of Leonardo's splashed through the sewers, just barely catching up with his brother. This turtle, an academic and acrobatic genius, wore a band of purple around his face. He was petrified for a moment as his brother, a tornado of steel, began to slash mercilessly into the snake. His eyes lowered and he found his master lying unconscious, and the urge to fight welled into him like a thunder storm. Deciding that it would be best to remove Sensei from the combat area, he drug the rat off into the shadows, where no doubt his other two brothers would come to find them. The balance of wisdom and combat finesse ran deeply into the mind of Donatello.

Two swords and a bo staff of wood became worlds of pain to the boa constrictor. Cries of anger echoed throughout the sewers as Leonardo fully lost his temper, his energy focused into skewering his opponent. Donatello kept the quieter of the two, although his heart ached with the agony of a howling storm. Neither of the brothers could fully see that they were winning their battle, driving their foe away from their home. Their eyes were clouded with tears of rage.

The boa constrictor had finally had enough to do with the two turtles and their father. He slithered up onto the ceiling, retreating back into the pipes from which it came. Neither pupil of Sensei's dared to move, listening as the plump snake's scales grated against metal as it escaped. They felt no pain from battle, but were in sheer emotional destruction. Donatello was the first to move, walking back to the tormented body of his father. Leonardo unfroze seconds later, watching his brother carry Sensei back to their lair. No doubt that he would need medical assistance, if he managed to survive.

And so, we watch the snake, the rat, and the turtles separate from the spot where barely five minutes of battle took place. No lives were shed, but tears and the scent of blood distinctly floated in the air. The atmosphere of the sewers quickly quieted down, almost to the sound of complete silence. There was only one noise that disturbed the turtles as they returned to their lair.

That was the sound of a rat screaming in the distance, swallowed in death. 

Quick Author's Note:

To Machias Banshee:

I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry! I did not mean to give the impression that Splinter died! He's still living in the story! I am so sorry! I'm a raving-mad Splinter fan myself! I wouldn't ever DARE kill the old rat! I am so sorry!

To Ramica:

I am progressively trying to learn about snakes, particularly constrictors. I realize that there's no way in hell a boa could get that big, but it's just that crazy for the sake of the story. If you could help me with some snake facts, I would appreciate it. 


	2. Five Words Dogs Hate

Chapter 2---Five Words Dogs Hate

Nearly a tenth of a mile away from the scene of terror, peace was still floating heavily around the lair of the turtle Ninjas. The air was still as acrid smelling as ever, but after years of living in the sewer, one would get used to the smell. The floors were cold cement, perhaps the only uncomfortable thing about mornings in the sewers. However, there was only one problem this morning for the two turtles still at home . . . .and that was deciding what kind of pizza they'd like for breakfast.

The first turtle up was diving inside his freezer, digging through box after box of pizza. He was in a rather good mood, singing on the top of his lungs as he was searching. His orange bandanna was lying on the kitchen table, next to his brother Donnie's laptop. So, considering it was early in the morning for the orange-clad brother, he was very happy.

"If you like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain!", Michaelangelo had music on his mind, "If you're not into yoga. . . Eww. . ."

He retrieved a pizza from the bowels of the freezer just to stare at its disgusting box. Not only was it about 3 months old, it had tofu and anchovies on it! _Good God!! What was Leonardo thinking when he bought this?!_ _Ugh_, Mikey thought he was going to throw up. Sure, Leo was always trying to get healthier food around the house, but god! Tofu pizza? He knew that only Leo, Splinter, and possibly Donnie would even touch that stuff. Mikey couldn't help but feel revolted by the food. 

The sounds of feet firmly hitting a bag stopped echoing throughout the lair as the second turtle finally began to give a damn about breakfast. His mind and body were in one solid agreement: today, he was going to be surly, tomorrow looked like a good chance of anger, and the following week had a nasty outlook too. A red ribbon was tied around his eyes, dangling down his shell and almost to his elbows. If there was one word to summarize the fourth turtle, it would have to be testy. Raphael was not in a state of mind that was pleasant, and usually wasn't.

Raph yelled into the kitchen/dining room, "You idiot, what are you doing?! You're going to wake up Leo, and then he'll bitch . . ."

Mike rolled his eyes, then proceeded to chuck the moldy pizza into a trash can, "Fat chance. Knowing Leo, he's probably already up."

The brother in red pondered that for a moment, "Yeah, so?"

Mikey shrugged his shoulders, digging out a Canadian bacon pizza, "I dunno. Hey, today we eat Canada!!" The younger brother began to play with the box, "Arrggh, Canada!! I am . . .err . . .Godzilla, and I am here to eat your pizza!!" He then began to chew on the cardboard box.

Raph became very bored with his brother's antics, stepping out into the living room to watch TV. However, he didn't pass up the opportunity to kick Mikey in the shins before he went off. Sometimes, he couldn't help but love tackling his brothers, causing minor injuries, and even horsing around in practice. That was a shard of Raphael, a violent streak that he'd never intentionally use against his brothers so that they really got hurt. Splinter was always telling Raph that he should calm down and let others just be, but . . .Raph wasn't really good at taking directions. He was no mamma's boy.

"Godzilla attacked Tokyo, Mikey. Not Canada.", Raph called from in the family room, "Except for that freaky one where they had him in New York."

Michaelangelo wailed from within the kitchen, "Did you have to kick me? Geez, my leg . . ."

"Aw, quit being a baby!!", Raph called back, "Remember that one time I kicked that Foot Ninja in the ass, and my foot got stuck up there? That was painful . . .for him!"

_Sometimes I wish he'd just grow up_, Raphael thought as he began channel surfing, _then again, he is great to kick when he's being stupid. _Probably one thing that he loved as much as harassing his brothers was the giant system of televisions that Donatello had hooked up in the sewers. Not only was he able to get cable down there, he was able to rig up several different programs into each set! With all of that TV at his disposal, how could Raphael not have some reserved respect for Donnie? There was nothing greater than waking up in the morning to ESPN in four different languages!

Raphael began to let his mind drift for a moment, just staring around his lair in enjoyment. Where was that geek Donnie, anyway? Usually, he was just as lazy about getting up as Raph was, but today he wasn't anywhere in the lair. He thought about going into the geek's room just to trash it. Unfortunately for him, he just felt too tired to really do any damage yet. Maybe later he would, maybe not. It just depended on Raphael's state of mind. 

Mikey came out of the kitchen a few minutes later, a couple of Dixie plates stacked in his left hand and a pizza pan in his right. He kicked off the numerous magazines that were stacked on the makeshift coffee table in the center of the family room, then slapped the food down. Raph moved further down the couch to give Mikey room; he was feeling a little bit more generous. The two brothers ate their pizza slices in peace, disturbing the silence only with a burp of Mikey's or some crude joke of Raph's. 

Something ran through the sewers up to the door of the turtle's lair, much too fast to be anything normal. Raphael sat up from the couch in concern, Mikey completely oblivious to the noise. The red one could hear raspy breathing, like if someone had run at top speed to get here. He readied his sais, and stood patiently by the door, prepared for something dreaded to storm inside. Michaelangelo finally picked up on Raph's distress and grabbed his nunchakus. Something was wrong. Dead wrong.

With a heavy lurch, the door to the lair flung open. Leonardo almost tripped over his own feet as he stumbled in, something very unlike Raph's graceful brother. His swords were drenched in thick blood, almost black in the pale light. His posture was beginning to droop as he gasped for enough breath to yell, "Donnie, get in here!"

Donatello flew in, ignoring his other three brothers as he ran over to the couch. In his arms was a bloody mass of fur and clothing, and Raph could almost feel his heart drop into the pit of his gut. Mikey was stunned, almost stuttering on a word that was never to come. Leo had the most grip on his mind out of all his brothers, and dashed into his bedroom. Seconds later he emerged with some tattered towels and a scrawny first-aid kit. Raph finally unfroze, sheathing his sais and running to his brothers' assistance.

"Leo, what the hell happened?!", Raphael almost exploded, watching in horror at the sight unfolding around him. The blue brother almost didn't understand what he said, quivering in fear as he watched Donatello begin to apply as much medical skill as he knew into cleaning up the mess on the couch. The being lying there was very still, barely shivering in response to anything around him. Leonardo still couldn't answer Raphael, turning away from the scene in fear.

Mikey slammed the door shut to the lair, making sure it was locked as tight as it could be. He then went to Donatello's side, kneeling next to him and almost restraining cries of terror. Donnie was in no better condition, his fingers twitching as he was checking their Sensei's pulse and temperature. There was something wrong in front of them that not even smart Donnie could fix. It was like watching their world crumble around them.

"S-S-S-Someone call April, quickly!", Donatello almost bleated like a scared child, "S-S-She'd know how to help us."

Raphael answered Donnie's cry for help, "I'll get her. Maybe Casey too, if we need transportation." 

Normally, Casey Jones would not be the person Leonardo or Donatello would like showing up for medical help, but in this case, they'd take what they could get. Space Case was a hothead like Raph, only he was human, which sometimes made it worse. If he wasn't compelled to help by the sheer thought of bashing in someone's head, it was to get points so that maybe April would fall for him someday. Every space cowboy has to dream, doesn't he?

Michaelangelo started feeling woozy, like if his life was flashing before his eyes. Closing them, he felt like curling into a little ball and crying himself to sleep. Something had found his father, and had tried to kill him. He couldn't understand it; their numero uno enemy, Shredder, was supposed to be six feet under. They had defeated any U-troms that would have like to study them like lab rats, and even the maniacal Rat King himself wouldn't dare to do this to any one, especially anyone he could use in his empire. Who would hurt Splinter? Who would _dare_ hurt his daddy?

Something wrapped around Mikey's hand. He opened his eyes to notice that Splinter had grabbed onto him, with a gentle power that could only come from patient hands. Mikey noticed that Donnie was successful in helping Splinter regain consciousness, as painful and brief as it might be. Almond eyes ripped into terrified Michaelangelo's soul, pleading like the cries of thousands of silence ghosts. Finally, he felt warm tears run down his face as he finally gave into his fear that someone had come for them.

Donatello only looked up momentarily to study Mikey's predicament, "You have to be strong, okay? He needs you to be strong."

Michaelangelo understood this, barely whispering, "Donnie . . .I'll try."

Don wiped more blood off his hands, continuing to assess what that beast had done to Splinter. It made little sense to the logical turtle; what was that thing in the sewer? It couldn't have been a snake . . .could it? Don had never seen a snake in the sewers, although it was probable that maybe a couple could live down here. How could that thing have snuck up on all of them? Why was it so . . .so . . ._big_? Another small set of horrors ran through Donnie's mind, _What if that thing had found us? What if we didn't hear Splinter? What if . . ._

He shook his head angrily. This was definitely not the time to play the "What If" game. He had to remain focused and composed. Usually, out of the four Turtles, Leonardo kept calm the easiest. It just was difficult for Donnie to remain calm when he potentially had their father's fate in his hands. He drew upon his inner strength, then continued to clean Splinter's wounds.

Donatello's hand slipped past an unusual bump on Sensei's chest. _Oh God Jesus Christ no, _his mind flew with as many colorful phrases as he allowed him to think. That was definitely a broken rib he was dealing with; if there was one, there had to be more for sure. He cursed himself further for even attempting to move Splinter. He probably ended up causing more damage than helping to heal it. Donnie hissed in fear, "No, damn-it, no . . ."

Leonardo returned from wherever he had gone off for a few moments, a small, yellowed paper in his hands. It looked fairly old, in the excess of at least a decade or two. He started observing numbers on the paper, mumbling to himself as he memorized the information. He folded the paper up, tucking it into a small leather pouch in his belt sash. The look on his face was still composed, so he came to help his steadily-unnerving brothers.

Raphael returned from making his important call, "I called April. She says to come up in the nearest manhole around here, and she'll help us out from there."

Donatello almost shot up instantly, barely retaining his anger, "He's got at least one broken bone. Moving him isn't going to help the situation."

Leonardo started comprehending the situation around him. Either someone was going to have to come down here and administer help, a very risky idea, or they were going to have to leave the sewers and look for isolated help. He knew that they had to leave—there was nothing else that they could do. No human in his or her right mind would come down here. They'd have to move.

"Don, can you carry Sensei out again?", Leo smoothly rolled his directions out, "You'd be the only one of us that would know how to handle a person with fractures."

Biting back everything that he knew was wrong about moving Splinter again, Donatello readily agreed. Michaelangelo helped his brother pick their father up, finding in himself the temporary strength to remain rock-steady. Raphael kicked the door to the lair down again, letting some of his anger flow out of his foot into the steel contraption. Within moments, the four turtles had abandoned the lair and all signs that they had once existed there peacefully. Only Leonardo had enough sense at that moment to shut the door back up and lock it.

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Twenty feet above the Turtle's lair was an old, rusting Chevy Silverado. It had obviously seen better days, but it was still doing its job, and that's all that mattered to Casey Jones. He would have loved to have something a little sportier than the blue rust-bucket, but that's all he could afford for now. Besides, he wouldn't part with that hunk-of-junk; it was his first pick-up, and that meant something to him.

A long, thin body rested against the truck, her hair in a red tangle. She had obviously seen better days, but waking up this morning to a plead for help wasn't her exact cup of tea. The rain hammering down around her reflected her dreary mood, making her feel more and more depressed. She could only think of what misery befell her best friends. Raph had called her and everything, but other than the words "dirty rat bastard" and "medical help", she couldn't understand a word he said. This was a common problem for April O' Neil, but she'd take the bad with the good. 

"How bad do you think it is this time?", Casey asked her from the other side of the truck, his thick black hair drenched with rain and his morning shower.

April shrugged, lifting her eyes from the sewer lid in the center of the street, "I don't know. I hope not as bad as that one time Leonardo was nearly massacred by the Foot Clan. It's probably not as simple as Mousers, either."

Casey felt at unease, almost bored and yet concerned at the same time, "You don't think one of them got killed, do you?"

She was almost furious with him asking, "No! You ding-bat, how insensitive is that to ask me something like that?!" 

He immediately backed down, knowing that today was not the day to bug April, "Sorry, sorry. I just don't think it'd be especially good if they called us for help . . ."

April sighed, then also began to cool down, "I know. I love the boys, but I don't exactly want them living with me again."

Something began to push up the sewer lid from the center of the abandoned street. Casey helped pull the cap off, tossing it off in another direction. He began assisting lifting the Turtles out of the sewer, first Mikey, then Raph, then Leo, then . . .Casey flinched as he was handed a limp body. April almost starting shrieking, "Oh god no."

Donatello pulled himself out of the sewer, then tossed the lid back on the sewer, "We . . .Splinter was attacked, and we came. . . Leo and I . . .but we were too late to help him . . .and we need help . . ."

Leonardo handed April the sheet of paper that he had stolen out of Splinter's room earlier, "We need to go here." April looked at the paper, glancing at the address and phone number listed on it. She noticed that it was a records sheet like they keep in vet's offices, but it was dated for 17 years ago! There was no way that the vet listed on the paper even still existed, never-the-less if they were still in the same place!

"Leo, you're kidding me," April sighed, "Are you sure these people are still around? I've never even heard of this doctor, and I worked with Baxter Stockman! He knew everyone!"

Leo nodded, but in desperation pleaded, "I know, but this is our only lead. Anyone inside the city would probably kill Splinter and chop him up for experiments."

April knew that fear all too well. All too often when she worked for Stocktronics did she have to watch animals die. They didn't die pleasant deaths, by any means. Some were ground into rat guts by Mousers, others killed in drug tests slowly. Even a couple of years after the experience, April couldn't help but feel bad for all those poor animals Baxter helped kill.

April finally relented, "All right. We'll try, but it is a good twenty minutes out of town. Do you think Splinter can hang on that long?"

Donatello interrupted the conversation, "I think he probably could. He's trying to stabilize himself, I can tell. But, we do have to hurry."

Within seconds, the Turtles, April, Casey, and Splinter had all been forced onto the truck. Leonardo instructed Michaelangelo to sit in the back seat of the Chevy and just comfort their father. If anyone was going to avoid getting rained on, it had better be Mikey; God knows he'd be whining in the back of the pick-up through the whole trip. Donnie, Raph, and Leo jumped in the back, pulling ragged towels over their heads. Casey took the drive seat while April rode shotgun, looking at the address on the paper Leo gave her. Splinter lade across the back seat, unconscious again and oblivious to his predicament physically. 

1303 Sherman Road, the paper said. _That had damn well be their heaven_, April thought to herself, _otherwise we're going on a trip from hell._

------

There was a faint pattering of rain on the roof of the Chevy. Its metallic percussion gently awoke Splinter to a world of pain. He could hear lightening crackling outside of the truck, lighting up the world in brief explosions of sound and energy. His vision was soupy, like trying to see through green fog. Worse, he smelt like blood—and there was nothing like smelling blood on yourself. You know you've been hurt when you can smell something so potent as that.

Where were his sons? What happened to that . . .that. . .monster? Why was he in a truck? Who were those people in the front seat? He felt terribly disoriented, something he didn't necessarily feel a lot. It was almost like those few mornings after Hamato died, where he'd wake up in a garbage can and have to run from a hobo or a garbage man. He hoped that wasn't what happened, that he'd been out in a long dream and just find out.

This wasn't like him! His mind was frustrated that he was so confused, but his soul couldn't help it. There was something about that snake that made him feel . . .helpless. It was a fear of all rats to be killed as prey, but he thought he overcame that fear long ago. The sea of pain washed back over him again, and he decided not to contemplate it further.

"Splin'er?", some voice like an angel whispered above his head. He lifted his eyes to have his nose brush past a long ribbon trail. The color on it was orange, so Splinter knew it was Michaelangelo right off hand. Sickness can disturb many things, but memory is a hard one to loose.

Michaelangelo put one of his three-fingered hands on Splinter's nose, blocking his vision for a moment. He spoke softly, "Go back to sleep, please? We'll be there in a few minutes."

Where were they going? Splinter closed his eyes, hoping that his sons knew what they were doing. If one of them was around, then the other three had to be close by. He would accept that—his sons were smart boys. He didn't doubt that they knew what they were doing. Mustering up all the strength in his body, he barely murmured, "Thank you, Michaelangelo."

The world turned into a spinning black realm, and Master Splinter was sucked into its vortex once more.

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Author's Note:

Wow! Thanks for all the reviews so far—I didn't think it would attract that much interest. Also, thanks for excusing me for my lack of snake knowledge—when your local library has BS for books and you can't get straight-out answers on the Internet, it makes life difficult. . 

Anyway, thanks again! ^_~


	3. Where the Sidewalk Ends

Chapter 3: Where the Sidewalk Ends

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There is a place where the sidewalk ends

And before the street begins,

And there the grass grows soft and white,

And the sun burns crimson bright,

And there the moon-bird rests from his flight

To cool in the peppermint wind.

Leonardo hated this one feeling that he had growing inside of him. He had had it for hours, it felt like. It had started out as a small little burning ball, but it began to consume him like an undying fire as soon as Casey drove out of busy New York City. It gnawed at him like a little mouse, chewing on him slowly like if his soul was leather. Looking inside of the pick-up's back window caused more little mice to come chewing, and it was all Leonardo could do to wait out their wrath. Anxiety took him over like a sickening plague. 

Raphael, on the other hand, was perfectly comfortable with his moral situation. There was nothing he could have done to prevent Splinter from being attacked, and he was doing his best to get him to safety. However, he didn't like the thought of having to go to some human whack-job doctor. To Raphael, doctors were the crazy men with chain-saws that wanted to carve him open like a pumpkin. The thought made anger bubble into his skin like acid, and he could barely suppress the rage. Damn-it, why did Splinter have to . . .to . . .

"Donnie.", Raphael whispered to his brother, " . . .Donnie, wake up."

Donatello was blood-stained like Leonardo, his shell smeared with at least four different types of the liquid. The relentless rain was trying to wash it away, but its scarlet trails were still embedded on him. Donnie himself had fallen asleep, feeling very weak from everything going around him. He probably had the weakest constitution of his brothers, often times getting sick when he looked at blood. It wasn't the blood itself that made him ill; rather, it was the knowledge of what happened to spill that blood that make him sick. None of his brothers ever picked on him for that, and they would have rather had him sleep off his woes anyway.

Donnie sighed, waking up to the same old thundering rain that it had been fifteen minutes ago, "Yeah, Raph? We there yet?"

Raph shook his head, "No."

Leonardo joined in on their conversation, feeling slightly lonely, "We're only about a mile away, now. We'll be there anytime."

Donnie nodded, looking at the gray thundering skies above him. When he was a child, he thought that someone died whenever it rained. Now, as a smarter teenager, he knew that it was simply a weather pattern caused by temperature differences and atmospheric conditions. He couldn't help but find bitter irony from that superstition and what happened. It was like the rain was ridiculing him for some oversight.

"Lucky sonnuva bitch.", Raphael cursed to himself, for no particular reason. He was thinking about maybe he meant that for Mikey, since he got to sit inside the truck. Then again, maybe Michaelangelo wasn't so lucky; he did have a dying rat sleeping next to him. The thought of failure suddenly flared angrily in his head, and it was all he could do not to drive his sai into something. 

The Chevy continued to speed down the road as moods and the skies continued to darken into black smog.

-----

Warmth radiated from the walls inside of Dr. Gerald Swartz's veterinary clinic. The walls were a cozy peach, catching the light of the ceilings fans in a soft embrace. The couches in the waiting room were a relic from the 70s, tan with brown random flowers on them. A calendar on the wall said it was March 3, green mallards in the picture for the month. Old plants adorned the front desk and reception room, bringing the senses further back into time. What wouldn't Dr. Swartz give for it to be 1978 again, when he was only 30-something?

Gerald had awoken early this morning, anticipating that today would be the same as yesterday—boring, relaxed, and empty. His small farm house was right next to the clinic, a mellow little hermit hole that maybe needed a coat or two of new paint. There was a small grove of trees around the entire living complex, making the doctor feel more like a part of nature than an old man trying to live outside of New York's limits. When he was younger, he used to love the city. Now, all he wanted were a few good patients and a world for him to explore in his own pace.

Dr. Swartz smiled at the calendar. Today would be his granddaughter's birthday. He expected maybe a phone call, but while she was busy off in college, he was pretty much expecting for her not to come to see him. That was okay—it was difficult for the two of them to still meet, anyway. More than one family upset had pretty much devastated their relationship, and all that matter to him anymore was that she still loved him.

A flare of light caught his eye as someone drove into his small dirt driveway. He didn't recognize the car; all of his patients were pretty much kids of yuppies he used to work with, and they all drove beemers or Rolls-Royces or something rich like that. This was a blue, rusting pick-up, a Chevy that he had never seen before. Two people jumped out of the car, and began approach his clinic's door. He knew that these people weren't familiar with him—he never opened the clinic before nine AM. 

Sighing, he pulled a gray jacket on and stepped outside. He was quite warm, wearing an old green-and-black sweater that he had had for several years. Khaki pants picked up no dirty stains as he ambled to the two strangers, brown shoes absorbing most of the mud. The rain barely affected the old man, but his bifocals were slightly misty. It didn't help that his balding scalp could feel every little droplet on his head. He didn't care though; if anything, he loved spring rains.

The woman was the first to attempt to talk to him, almost running her words together, "Are you Doctor Gerald Swartz?"

The good doctor nodded, "Yes. And you are?"

The woman blushed, her red hair still in a damp mess, "I'm sorry. I'm April O' Neil."

Swartz nodded, recalling something from a long-forgotten memory, " . . .you used to work with Baxter Stockman, correct?"

April smiled, finally coming back to her good nature, "Yes, until he tried to kill me. Long story. Um . . .I need your help."

Gerald was a little bit confused. He didn't see any dog or cat or any sort of pet with her. What would a woman be doing here 20 miles out of New York for no reason at all? He took a quick glance at the tall black-haired fellow behind her, and noticed that he was holding something . . .peculiar . . . .

April hastily whipped out some old, tanning information, "He was a patient of yours a long time ago . . ."

Swartz looked over the information, trying to recall something. He noticed that this particular patient was last seen sometime in the 80s. Not many animals would still be alive today to get medical care if they were born then, especially not rats! Swartz bit his lip, pondering something that he might have forgotten a long time ago. Could there be something that . . .wait . . .

"Sunflower seeds.", Dr. Swartz mumbled. He quickly scanned down the sheet, looking at some of the past treatments. One from 1984 read something briefly about an allergic reaction the rat had, "I remember that this man brought in this rat, and that it had eaten a sunflower seed or something. It was so sick—kept throwing up all the time. We weren't sure if he'd even get over the reaction, but he pulled through it. It was such a bad allergy . . ."

Something dropped behind Swartz, making him turn around in surprise. Before him stood a gigantic reptile, about 5 feet 2 inches tall. Strapped on his back were two sheaths, both holding some sort of swords. His eyes were shielded by a blue bandanna, which was rain-soaked. He looked like he was a gladiator, having recently fought a tiger. The turtle, however, made no unfriendly move against him.

The turtle murmured, "So, it is you."

Gerald was more than just a little disturbed at the sudden entrance of the turtle, "Yes. I treated him . . .sure grew a lot since I last saw him."

"Please.", the turtle's eyes begged, "He needs help, and you are the only person we can trust."

Dr. Swartz was dumb-founded, amazed at what he had been handed. Looking back one last time at the bloody mammal cradled in the human man's arm, he couldn't help but feel somewhat bad. He honestly didn't know if there was anything he could do, but . . ._I guess I'll have to try_, he thought. Three more charges of the rat's came to the first turtle's side, awaiting an answer.

Swartz sighed, then began unlocking his clinic doors, "What's the damage?"

The purple-banded turtle began to explain everything as the group began to divide inside of the building. The red, orange, and blue turtles sat in the reception area while Miss O' Neil, the big man, and the purple one followed him to his operation room. He rushed as much information out as he knew in a few shallow breaths, "He was attacked by a snake. At least one of his ribs is broken, if not more. There appears to be a large bite in his shoulder and another couple of lacerations on his side."

Without questioning further about the attack, Swartz asked "Miss O' Neil, could I have you assist me?"

April was more that ready to comply, "Sure. What do I need to do?"

Swartz ran every hurried little thing past his mind, leaning on the door frame, "Anything you can do." 

And with that, the door to the surgical room was closed, blocking out Casey Jones and Donatello and leaving them in the dark.

-----

__

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black

And the dark street winds and bends.

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow

We shall walk with a walk that is measured slow.

And watch where the chalk-white arrows go

To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Leonardo watched the time go by like an agonizingly boring television show. Every second, he felt his heart beat like an empty drum. His brother Michaelangelo had long since the beginning of Splinter's surgery slept, his head resting on Leo's shoulder. Raphael had fallen asleep after a half an hour passed, internally weary but externally wired. Donatello kept pacing across the room, like he had for the past few hours, but his pace was slowing. It was obvious that they were all getting very tired from their anxiety.

Bowing his head down, Leo allowed himself to finally rest. It had been a difficult struggle within himself to go to sleep, and still he felt like he was violating all the codes of Bushido at once. There was this physical need that was dragging him down, and he had to submit to his own self. Even Donnie came to rest during Leo's internal battle, lying down on the cold floors. Finally, Leo decided to himself that he had to sleep.

Within everyone's mind is a realm of joy, a quiet sanctuary in times of need. Splinter had taught his students early on in life to come to their quiet spots if they felt tired. Raphael's center was a brilliant green jungle, where he dwelt within like a beastly hunter. Mikey had found solace in a green forest that was always sunny and bright. Donnie's place was next to some sort of a wooden temple, and it was this huge black-marble fountain that nearly over-flowed with water. Leo's spot, however, was in the temple, where the teachings of various masters of his art were hidden in vast tomes for him to explore at his leisure. 

None of the brothers found themselves in their meditation place, though. In fact, Leo had no clue as to where he was. He looked up into the sky to see that a swelling storm was moving in, hammering rain down like bullets. The land behind him was a dying forest, the trees pale brown and dead. The ground was a dark-gray cement, narrowing as it jutted out into the horizon like a knife. Leo followed the ground, watching as he got farther and farther out into a hole in the middle of nowhere.

The bottomless pit that was around him began to fill up with water, like a raging ocean. Leo was startled by this, but not as much as he was by the sight in front of his eyes. Chained down to the ground was a tattered rat, struggling against the metallic bonds holding him down. Leo felt suddenly overwhelmed, crying out like a child, "Master Splinter!"

The being reacted to his voice, stopping his struggle to look behind him, "Leonardo . . .what are you doing here?"

Leonardo nearly stumbled in his hurried rush towards Splinter, "I . . .where are we?"

Both the rat and the turtle were bewildered, "I do not know, my son. I wish that whatever brought me here didn't bring you."

Leo began to analyze the chains that bound Splinter, trying to find a weak link or a loose screw or something. He couldn't even pick at anything with his blunt fingernails, and this made him even more desperate to leave. His heart became a palpitating pump, almost like if he were in the middle of a ferocious battle. Pulling at the chains with his might, neither the turtle nor the master could break them.

Something exploded out of the darkness behind the two, quickly running towards them like a bullet of fire. Twin sais began to pick at the metallic links in the chains, instantly freeing Splinter. Both were startled at this increasingly terrifying set of events, "Raphael?!"

The blood-red garbed turtle was just as confused as his brothers, "I dunno what happened, Leo. At first, I was having a great dream about killing thugs, then . . .this happened."

"Something made this happen.", a smooth, intelligent voice flowed through their ears, bringing their attention to the newly teleported Donatello. He helped Leo and Splinter back on their feet, rising slowly like an old man. Continuing to explain his theory, Donnie kept talking, "Something powerful summoned us here. It might be anything."

Raph's brow twitched just slightly, "I don't like where this is going, Donnie."

"Yeah, me either, dude.", the final missing piece of the puzzle came into the picture as Michaelangelo stepped up to his brothers and father. He was in rather good spirits, considering he had no idea what was going on. As soon as the group had rejoined, the ground beneath them began to divide, cracking their huddle apart. They all struggled to stay on their own pieces, hoping that they wouldn't drift apart.

The sudden sea that had grown out of the darkness began to churn wildly, waves rolling over the family like currents. Mikey cried out, barely holding onto the rubble ground. The storm angrily howled above their heads, lighting crashing much too close for coincidence. Raph cursed bitterly in retribution, treading water as he was tossed on and off his platform. Leonardo held tight to the closest rock to him, terrified as his world washed around him like a Technicolor nightmare.

A column of scales began to rise out of the darkness, eclipsing the turtles in its shadow. A tattooed hood folded out of its head, brushing past Donatello's shell as it opened. The tiny awed group were splashed off in all directions as the creature continued to rise out of the sea, foam washing Mikey off his rock and crashing into Splinter's. He slipped unconscious, caught barely in the nick of time by his master's left hand.

The being kept rising out of the ocean, like an unending ribbon of scales and flesh. It began twisting around itself in the air, diving under the turtles, turning around, sealing them inside its folds. Raphael angrily stabbed at the flank of the creature, but found that even his mighty sai could not drive deep enough into the beast to slow it down. Leonardo panted in desperation, barely climbing back on his rocky platform. What was that thing? What. . . was it doing?

Fangs began to emerge from the monster's mouth as it dove head-first for the clump of turtles. Splinter pushed himself and Michaelangelo off their rock as fast as he could, barely evading the crippling bite of the beast. Leonardo and Donatello quickly dove in after them, pulling them to uncertain safety. Raphael watched in anticipation as the creature began to circle around them again.

"What are we gunna do?! That thing's gunna kill us!!", Raph hollered angrily into the storm winds, his voice barely audible above the torrents.

The thin beast began to slow its attacks, looking fondly upon the group like a sinister dictator over his kingdom. It spoke in booming phrases, "**SOY MUERTE SINIESTRA! SOY COMEDOR DE ALMAS! SOY** **SERPIENTE DE LOS MARES!!**"

Donatello shivered, the wind biting at his exposed skin. More so, the words of the devil attacking them made him freeze. He clung to Mikey's limp body, hoping he would come to soon. Shouting back to the demon in his best knowledge of Spanish, Donnie yelled, "Porqué persegue mi familia?! 

The circling Leviathan was surprised at the sudden flurry of words that Don spoke. He circled back around, licking Donnie with its narrow, forked tongue. The turtle could barely stand the disgusting action, but did so without hesitation. Leonardo readied his katanas, holding them at prepared angles. Raph crouched down near his fallen brother, patiently anticipating the movements of the foul water beast.

"**Quiéne es usted? Porqué pregunta yo?**", the serpentine creature lowered its head towards Donatello, hissing past his eardrums and occasionally tasting the liquid fear on his head. Don stood firm, waiting for the creature to quit circling him. The Leviathan stopped in front of the turtle, glaring into his soul with orange-amber eyes. Finally, Donnie noticed a gap in the snake's defenses and struck like unfurling lightening.

There was a crack of wood and thunder through the air as a bo staff came in contact with a yellowed tooth, blood and bone exploding through the air after impact. Donnie's cry of victory was heard over the howls of the snake, with ringing vibrations to inspire bravery into the hearts of any soldier. Leonardo followed through Donatello's attack, leaping several meters off the ground and embedding his swords into the nose of the serpent. More glorious red blood sprayed like a tidal wave, bathing both brothers in the liquid. Raphael joined in the shouts of battle, his cackle ripping through souls like a wild fire.

Another cry joined the turtles' calls as the master finally came to battle, fluttering Japanese words becoming piercing swords. Instincts were washed away in the raging storm, replaced by a sharp metal blade hidden within a body of a staff. Adding unto his pupils' attacks, Splinter jammed the Yari staff into one of the eyes of the snake, plucking it out in one smooth motion. Raphael easily damaged the other, sais dancing on the tips of his fingers like uncontrollable flames. Even through the churning of the ocean, resting Michaelangelo was safe—although, perhaps not for long.

The bearer of earthen nunchakus awoke to barely missing the deadly smash of the sapphire Leviathan's tail, jumping into the ocean milliseconds before his destruction. Counting every last one of his lucky stars, Mikey grabbed onto the tail of the snake, holding tight to avoid the finned back or to be tossed like flotsam into the sea. Leaping off the snake's back, he snatched ahold of its leathery hood, and he began his blunt assault against the beast. Where the demon came from, he did not know, but all he needed to know was that his brothers needed him. 

Donatello catapulted himself off the nose of the beast, flipping into the ocean. He re-emerged from the brackish sea, gouging his staff into the tubular chest of his foe. A feline-like scream echoed over the raging sea, then the Leviathan shot down to where it sensed the pain in its body. Leonardo, Raphael, and Splinter lost their balance on the wild dive that the beast took, hitting the water like droplets. Donnie found himself on the lips of the serpent, his staff wedged where two teeth previously were. Crying in anguish, the violet turtle barely held his balance and position. He wasn't about ready to stumble into the maw of the beast that nearly devoured . . .

Donnie's head began to spin, and he desperately screamed, "LEO!!"

Like a tsunami on the shores of Japan, Leo leapt out of the water and knocked his brother loose from his impending doom. Katanas flashed like lightening, making the fork in the snake's tongue just a little longer. Both brothers fell back into the ocean, hitting the water like cannonballs. The serpentine devil followed them, plunging under the ocean and into the watery depths. Leonardo froze as he was caught like a deer in the headlights of the snake, watching as teeth began to ensnare the world around him.

A flurry of brown-and-gray fur bashed into Leonardo's shell, knocking him out of the maw of the Leviathan like a pool ball. Another burst of blood exploded shortly after the turtle, like an atomic flower of the liquid. Leo would have screamed if he had the breath. His orange brother drug him back up to the surface of the ocean, barely holding him aloft. A few gulps of air later, Leonardo noticed that the snake was resurfacing, and his anger overtook him.

"YOU WILL NOT DESTROY MY FAMILY!!!!", Leo cried, twin katanas meeting their mark in the flank of the snake, gauging out a foot of flesh. The longer the battle took, the more scarlet the ocean became. Another fear shook through Leo like a parasite crawling on his skin; where was Donnie, Raph, and Splinter?

Speaking of the red devil himself, a torrent of fire shot across the back of the Leviathan like a meteor. Sais meeting their mark, Raphael jammed his weapons into the back of the snake's skull, lodging them in secure place. He rode out the beast's thrashing like a rodeo star, laughing in enjoyment of the moment. He was going to kill this thing if it was the last thing he did!

Donatello bobbed up to the surface next to Leonardo, gasping for oxygen. Something pulled him back under, leaving a trail of bubbles where Donnie had yelped in fear. Leo dove back under, noticing that a thick tail had wrapped around his brother's torso. With no hesitation, Leo sliced through the entire tail, spinal cord, flesh, scales, and all. He grabbed onto Donnie, kicking furiously as he rushed back up to the surface. Both coughed and inhaled oxygen, relieved in finding that precious air again.

Mikey was staring at the Leviathan in disbelief, not quite sure what he was seeing. Something was tearing the beast apart from the inside-out, a bulge becoming very visually apparent in the snake's neck. A wooden-like cane ripped through the larynx of the beast, bluntly cutting through esophagus and skin tissue in the same blow. Like Athena from the brow of Zeus, Splinter dove head-first back into the sea, avoiding the river of blood and the snake's recoil bite at the same time. Mikey suddenly felt enough courage to brave the storm, diving several feet underwater and grabbing his father out of the melee zone as fast as his aching muscles could move.

Raphael continued to drive his sais through the snake's neck, feeling his hands go into snake flesh and deeper. Something satisfyingly crunched on his descent down, and he knew that he had slew the dragon. Yanking his sais back out of the snake's skull, he leapt back into the ocean, perfectly cutting through the waves like a knife. There was something very Aries-like about that final blow to Raph. That was HIS kill!

The five watched in utter shock and joy as the Leviathan sank into the depths of the fictitious ocean, bobbing up and down in the waves. There was nothing quite as satisfying as defeating a beast like that, especially when everyone felt like they had done their part. Leo closed his eyes, absorbing the smell of blood, electricity, salty water, and wet fur that polluted his senses. If he had a pair of red or silver shoes, he'd be clicking their heels right now.

_There's no place like home . . ._

_There's no place like home . . ._

_There's no place like home . . ._

-----

"There's no place like home.", Leo mumbled weakly, coming back to the real world. He looked around sharply for a moment, noticing that his brothers had all woken back up too. Had it all been a dream? Had they all really never fought that beast?

Raph looked at his hands and sais, noticing the very familiar sight of blood on them. Michaelangelo gasped, rushing to his feet and running towards the operating room. The other brothers quickly followed him, leaving poor bewildered Casey Jones in the dust. They peered almost on tip-toes into the small room, watching in amazement at the sight they could view. That was April, and Dr. Swartz, and . . .and Splinter. They were all there! They were okay!

April noticed the four boys watching from the narrow hall-way, and laughed to herself. Although they were supposed to be trained masters of stealth, they still were so much like children in a way. She smiled at them for a moment, then slowly walked towards the door. They wanted to hear every last word she had to say, even if she had to blurt them all out at once. With a great amount of pride, she whispered, "He's going to be okay."

Not even God himself could silence the wondrous sound of their voices exclaiming their joy, terrifying poor rattled Casey, stunning Gerald Swartz, and abruptly bringing Splinter out of his drug-induced sleep. 

__

Yes, we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,

For the children, they mark, and the children, they know,

The place where the sidewalk ends.

-----

Author's Note:

Ever have someone read to you Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends? I had this read to me every year in elementary school and until now I had no idea how awesome his stuff is! Some of his poems can be very deep, and others are just silly. This is probably one of his deeper ones.

Why a Spanish-speaking Leviathan? Why not? ^_^

Once again, I am very thankful and happy for all the reviews everyone's been giving me! Please keep with me—I might be a little crazy, but aren't we all?

Oh yeah, trivia of the day: Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz originally had silver shoes! And now you know! ^_^ 


	4. Three Roads Converge

Chapter 4: Three Roads Converge

There was a momentary pause in the thunderstorm as the world came to know silence again. The roads were soundless, quiet as though they were meditating deeply. Winds were racing through the dead grasses of the fields, their sounds like the chimes of the earth. Breathing in, you could feel cool wind in your body, refreshing like a glass of water. Nothing disturbed the silence of the midday except for the sound of a small car passing down the roads.

A modest gray Saturn Ion ambled through the countryside, its driver taking in deeply what the world around her was like. She hadn't seen this place for a year, but she could remember it all by heart. The fields that were barren from winter reminded her of her fruitless childhood. She wished she could have come sooner to this sanctuary, to find peace from her life. This was her shell, her place to retreat to when life was sour. She was glad to have broken away from the world, if only momentarily. The further away she got from the real world, the better she could feel.

Her mother had named her Diana Kayla Anderson. Her father didn't even acknowledge that she was alive. That was all right with Diana; she didn't care to ever see that beast. What she wanted were more memories of her mother, the sweet woman that had loved her and cared for her even in death. It angered Diana to think that the only fault of her mother had to torture and slaughter her over all those years. Why didn't the chemotherapy work? Why did she have to die from lung cancer? 

She drove into her grandfather's driveway, the same dirt path it had been decades before and would still be decades afterwards. The rain misted softly around her, dampening her dulled hair. It used to be a wondrous mix of light brown and red, but some of it had faded out into mousy-gray streaks. Her eyes used to have a lively green ember in them, but also had waned away into a sea-green. Only her grandfather and his farm had stayed the same over the years. 

Smiling, she noticed that her grandfather's vet clinic was open. She didn't think that he would have patients today, but was happy that he was still working. Nothing could seem to slow down that old man, and she enjoyed that. He was her only family member now, and she would need him for as long as he would be there. 

There was an old blue Chevy in the driveway that Diana didn't recognize. She didn't think that her grandfather took up new patients, but maybe he was getting a little bit more energetic. Peering inside the warm office, she saw a black-haired man and his girlfriend sleeping on the couch. That was definitely a little too odd. Letting her curiosity overtake her, she slipped into the office, quiet as a dandelion seed in the wind.

That is when Diana finally realized this was going the be the outright **weirdest** day of her life.

Four green creatures were sitting in the hall to her grandfather's operation room, in a deep slumber. Their head were adorned with colored ribbons, and she couldn't help but think that they had a sort of super-hero look to them. The one closest to her was smiling in his sleep, a strange looking weapon clutched in his hand. It looked kind of like a couple of sticks held together by some links. His back and front were covered by a carapace and a plastron, slightly marred by combat. Diana was simply awe-struck; she had seen perhaps the most beautifully weird being in the world.

Reaching down to touch his forehead, Diana was finally noticed by the man and woman in the waiting room. They were about to stop her when a scream reverberated through the building, "**Oh my god, it's a RAT!!**" The turtle-men awoke abruptly, three scampering off as fast as they could. The orange turtle next to her just kind of store at her in shock.

He simpered stupidly, "Are you real?"

Diana nodded, not sure where this was going to go.

The turtle laughed hesitantly, and so did she. He stood up carefully, arming himself as he finally responded to the scream, "My name's Michaelangelo."

Diana was amused by his name, "Okay, I'm going to pretend this is real and say my name's Diana. So, hi."

Trust me, this was real.

-----

A cold wind crossed the open plains again, bringing with it a thunderstorm more ferocious than before. Rain bounced off the roads, pelting the land with water grenades. The only thing perhaps that was more terrifying was the speeding car that was lancing down the roads. It was electric, like a thundering dragon let loose unto hapless people. More striking, it was a red Ferrari 575 M Maranello, one kind of car these roads hardly ever saw. 

The owner of this car was lounging in the leather seats in the back. Black rivers of wavy hair ran down to her shoulders. Her eyes were brown, the color that melted caramel looks like when it gleans. It was very obvious that her favorite color was red, as she was dressed up for a meeting in something that a common person could barely even think of affording. Her fingers were twisted around a Sobranie Black Russian cigarette, puffs of smoke curling out of her crimson lips like that of Tolkien's dragon. She was the devil herself, Miss Carmencita Menendez.

She sighed impatiently, smoke curling around her, "How much longer to New York?"

Her driver was a family friend, someone she had helped out of debt by giving them this job. However, he regretted ever taking it, "I do not know, Carmencita. This storm is quite dangerous to drive through, and I wish to take my time."

Her tongue was like a steel knife, "Well, could you hurry it up? I've got a lot of important business to do!"

Important business, sure. Ms. Menendez was working for Narcissus Cosmetics as a corporate executive, but she hardly was in New York. Most of her dealings were done out in Los Angeles. However, she was no stranger to big bad New York. She knew every little corner and alleyway—she had underground connections. Dirty dealing had made her a very rich woman. Not even the law knew of her sins; she was infallible.

Well, nature and God are infallible, too. As luck would have it, both are here to prove her wrong.

The driver saw the shadow leap out onto the road too late. Slamming on the brakes, all he managed to do was skid on the road. Headlights caught the image of a deer all too late, then a splash of blood, crunching of car parts and bones, and sudden terror muddled the driver and Carmencita's mind. She screamed as the driver lost control, sending them straight into the ditch. They kept rolling through, running into a grove of trees. One final crunch took the life of the driver, stopping the car and the chaos in one swift move.

Carmencita dashed out of the car as fast as she could, only grabbing her Prada bag. She abandoned the car and the deceased driver, running into the thick trees as fast as she could. Stopping for a few minutes, she watched as the car's headlights grew dim and faded into darkness. After the fear had passed, she continued to stomp through the forest. She didn't bother to call anyone for help; she didn't really care about the car that much, anyway. She didn't even care too much for the driver. She just wanted out of the rain.

An ungodly long amount of time passed before she found a light in the darkness. She had come out of the woods behind a quaint little house, lights shining out of the building next to it. She slipped closer to the building, checking if the back door was unlocked. To her pleasure, she found that the door had been left slightly ajar. She easily walked inside, finding herself in the oddest little room she had ever seen.

The floors were slightly dirty, due to mud and age. Walnut cupboards surrounded the sides of the room, an old TV sitting on one of them. The walls and ceiling were an eggshell white, also very old. In the center of the room lay a gurney of some sort, metallic supports catching some of the light coming from a ceiling fan. Everything seemed to be in place—everything, except for the creature sleeping on the gurney.

It took Carmencita a few moments to recognize that it wasn't human. A few more, and she noticed that someone had been caring for it. A loose bandage had been wrapped around its right shoulder and chest, stained slightly with blood. Its fur was damp, probably from the rain or sweat. The being looked like it had been through hell and back, if hell happened to have water. What disturbed Carmencita the most was the long, leathery tail that was trailing off the side of the bed. Terror struck her again, and in panic, she screamed.

"**Oh my god, it's a RAT!!**"

-----

Coming out of the roads of the astral plane, she awoke in a sudden fear. She felt tingly, like she had been electrically shocked. She could feel numerous pulses beating throughout her own, millions of minds coming into hers. Blocking them all out, she centered on one particular mind that she had not sensed in a long time. She breathed deeply through her nose, allowing herself to focus on the call once again.

The breath of her Summoner fluttered through her ears, like a gentle spring breeze. Ah, she enjoyed this sensation! How could she forget such a wondrous feeling of peace? She had a sudden yearning for the past, of times that had barely happened and yet occurred so long ago. Six months was all it was. How she had missed this presence!

_Ninjara . . ., _the voice danced through her mind again_, . . .my sons . . . .help . . ._

The sudden plea of help shot into her heart. The turtles, of course! What had happened to them? Where were they? Why couldn't she sense them?! Spreading her focus across New York City, and outside its limits, she became increasingly frustrated. Where was Splinter's cry coming from? Suddenly, it hit her like a brick; she could not only sense the Sensei, but each and every one of the turtles. It made her slightly concerned; what were they doing outside the city?

Never the matter. She snapped out of the trance, instinctively gathering her battle gear. Heh, Ninjara the wily never needed more than her wit, but weapons certainly improved her circumstances. A katana, a wakazashi, several shrunikens, and her crossbow & ammunition went into a small backpack as soon as she could grab it. She draped a blue cloak over her ears and muzzle, hoping that would improve her stealth. Humans didn't need to discover that they had mutants running amongst them; many would have her dead in minutes. 

Slipping out the beaded entrance to her little home, Ninjara slipped into a dark alleyway and into the streets of New York. Already, she was right at home. Most New Yorkers couldn't care whether she was human, mutant, alien, or a combination of the three. It helped even more that she knew the subtle art of Ninjistu. Even more-so, it helped that there was an unsuspecting farmer's truck right in front of her. She slipped into the back of the pick-up, hiding herself next to empty cages and various bags of seed mix. All she would have to do now is to wait for the truck to take her out of the city--hopefully, in the right direction.

It was less than five minutes later that the pick-up left its parking spot, driving towards the south-west end of the city. She felt Splinter's mental signal grow stronger, and she knew then that she was going in the right direction. Closing her eyes for a moment, she tried to focus her inner energy into communicating with the master. Maybe he would respond better. 

There was a sudden vacuum of thought where Splinter's force was before, like a portal to some unknown world. Quickly waking up, Ninjara realized what she had sensed. That was a passageway to the Astral Plane, the realm of thoughts and drifting souls. It was a good thing that she didn't meditate any further, or who knows where her mind could have gone. She then became painfully aware of how hard it was raining. If she hated anything worse than being caught in a bad fight, it was getting soaking wet.

Someone tried contacting her via telepathy again, and Ninjara opened up to the call. Splinter was back, although he sounded rather weak, _Where . . .Ninjara . . ._

I'm on my way, Splinter. Geez!, Ninjara jutted in quickly, _What's going on?_

There was a momentary pause, then the wind whispered back to her, _I was . . .Leonardo . . .Donatello came . . .I woke up . . .in Casey's truck . . .attacked . . .during sleep . . ._

Ninjara sighed to herself, feeling the signal between her mind and Splinter's grow increasingly stronger. She knew that she was at least a few miles from wherever the turtles boys and he were staying. Unexpectedly, her free ride took a turn to the left, driving off in the wrong direction. Jumping out of the pick-up, Ninjara rolled into the ditch and waited to feel to Splinter's life force again. He was still a few miles away, but that was all right. There was a near-by grove of trees, and she could easily travel under them. Heh, the less rain on the fur, the better.

Traveling swiftly through the grove, Ninjara thought she heard something like a metallic thing hitting a wet bag. She shrugged it off, whatever it was. Some idiot driver probably hit a tree or something. It wasn't any of her concern, anyway. Focusing back on Splinter faint telepathic signal, she was pleased to find that she was pretty close to wherever he and the boys were. Just a few more minutes, and she'd know what the heck was going on.

Ninjara slipped out of the forest into a space behind a couple of houses. One of them had an easy-access door, or at least as easy access goes for being locked. Locks never stopped Ninjara, the world's greatest fox thief. With a few twists, she had cracked the lock off the door and slipped inside the building. She still had her touch! 

Ninjara didn't like what she was seeing, however. The place looked way too creepy, like a whack-job's home butcher shop. She grumbled to herself, "Vet clinic. Great." Only the Ninja Turtles would find themselves in a human's animal hospital.

She leaned against the counter, finally looking at the being that was watching her the entire time. Ninjara nearly jumped out of her skin, but she managed not to yelp. Splinter was watching her from where he was lying, his eyes slightly foggy from anesthetics. _Even better,_ Ninjara thought to herself, _the rat's whacked up._

"Very funny, Splinter.", Ninjara hissed through her teeth, "Where's the fearsome foursome?"

Splinter was having difficulties comprehending what she was saying, but he responded never-the-less, "Around. Thank you for coming."

Ninjara was going to regret asking this, she knew it, but she had to, "Okay, why are you here?"

The Sensei blinked, smiling like a carefree-idiot, "I don't know."

_Okay, great! Really great!!_, Ninjara cursed to herself, _Not only is Splinter whacked out on drugs, but he doesn't even know where he is and why!_ She sighed in frustration, her tail whipping back and forth around her angrily. The only way this could get worse is if some dumbass human found. . . 

Splinter heard something coming from one of the doors. He waved Ninjara over to his side, roughly signing out what he was hearing. The fox and the rat looked around quickly for somewhere to hide, but it was all too late. Some woman stepped into the room, looking rather disheveled and pissed off. Ninjara ducked down behind the Sensei's bed while he pretended to go back to sleep, both hearts beating at a thousand pulses a minute. They hoped that the lady would go away, but she did quite the opposite.

Opening her mouth to scream, she yelped, "**Oh my God, it's a RAT!**"

_So much for customs, _Ninjara thought to herself. She knocked Splinter's gurney over, pulling the rat down to where she was hiding. Seconds later, she jumped over the mess she created, her wakazashi being her weapon of choice. She didn't need to kill the woman; she just needed to scare her off. Ninjara waited patiently, poised in perfect form. She would wait for her enemy to make the first move.

Someone tackled Ninjara from behind, disarming her in a single move. She attempted to fight back against the force, her fingers finding the eyes of the creature. Both combatants wrestled against each other, growling and swearing. Soon, Ninjara began to remember sensations that she hadn't felt in ages. Her heart was lit aflame, her skin tingling. Ah, this was love! She stopped fighting for a moment to notice who she had pinned under her grasp.

"Heya, doll, how ya doing?", Raphael laughed cockily from beneath her. She laughed in joy, stepping off her rival and helping him back to his feet. Okay, so the boys were safe. She was a happy girl.

Leonardo and Donatello quickly bounded into the room after their brother, gasping in fright at the mixed up room around them. Leo picked up Ninjara's lost wakazashi, stepping in between the mess and the strange woman. Who had found them? Donatello backed him up, his bo becoming another effective barrier between the weird woman and their father. Both turtles hesitated to move, standing still as stone.

The black-haired devil shuffled something out of her purse. A few seconds later, Leonardo felt his eyes burn like coals. He cried out in pain, his hands covering his face in reflex. Someone grabbed him and thrust him underneath a running faucet, washing away the burning liquid. The relief was beyond wonderful. A soothing voice kept encouraging, "Calm down. It stings, but if we can get this out of your eyes, it won't sting for much longer."

Donatello was poised to move at any moment, anticipating the woman to attack him too. Growling under his breath, he sank closer and closer to the collapsed gurney. He was about to disarm the strange black-haired devil when to his joy Dr. Swartz stepped into the office. Gerald took one look around at everyone, then stuttered, "A-a-all right, everyone freeze!" 

Carmencita dropped her pepper spray in surprise, shocked to find some sort of sense in the melee. Michaelangelo snatched it before she could grab ahold of it again. Raphael and Ninjara untangled from each other's grasp, sitting upright with a sort of sparkling flare in their eyes. Leonardo opened his eyes for the first time since he had been sprayed in the face, finding that another strange woman had come to help him. Donatello helped Splinter out from the mess of gurney, both silent as they tried to figure out what the heck had gone on.

Mikey was the first to talk, as always, "Erm, guys, this is Diana!" He pointed over to the messy-haired woman assisting Leo, "She's Dr. Swartz's grand-daughter."

Leonardo was very grateful to her, mainly because the stinging sensation was beginning to go away, "Hello, and thanks for the help."  


Diana was still a little confused as to why four turtles, a rat, and a fox had all come to her grandpa's office, but probably not as much as why they all could walk and talk. She simpered, shaking Leo's hand, "It was nothing."

Carmencita was about ready to flip out again, "This is wrong! I've had a concussion, that's it! That car crash . . .that's why I'm seeing animals! That's got to be it!"

Everyone had the look on their face that they wanted to walk away very slowly from the crazy woman. Dr. Swartz took everything under control again, "Come to the front Miss . . .I didn't catch your name."

"Carmencita is all you need to know.", she snapped irritably. She couldn't believe her luck. Of all things, today she would have to crash her favorite car and meet a group of nut-cases! Gerald Swartz quickly ushered her out to the front office while Casey Jones and April slipped into the back. Everyone was slightly at a lack of words.

Donatello took one good look at Splinter, noticing that sudden twitch of nervousness he seemed to have taken on. The purple turtle pushed him over to the sink as fast as he could, giving no warning to anyone. Seconds later, Splinter remembered why he hated human medication. Raphael slightly winced as his father continued to the throw up, unsure whether he should be laughing or very quiet. Everyone slowly began to back out of the room while Casey flipped the tossed gurney back upright. 

April was a little concerned as she and Casey left, "Do you think he'll be okay?"

Casey half-heartidly laughed, "Yeah, doll. Don't get worked up over nothing."

April wish she couldn't—but it was part of being who she was. 

-----

Splinter sat back down on the gurney, trying to center his focus. His brain was scrambling, hampered by the anesthesia. The animal side of him told him that was he was fine, but the human side argued that the drugs were messing with him and that he should rest. He wasn't very happy that two more humans knew about his sons and him, especially since one of them could have hurt Leonardo. Mind fogging again, he relied on his senses to guide him back to peace.

Donatello and Leonardo had remained in the room, mainly because Leo was too shaken from the spray to leave and Donnie needed to walk him out. They were talking amongst themselves, worrying about the reaction Splinter had and the new charges they had picked up. Mostly, they wondered if Raph would turn into the love-starved idiot he had been the last time Ninjara had shown up. Donnie was fairly sure that the granddaughter of Dr. Swartz wouldn't say anything, but he was concerned about Carmencita. All they could do was stay out of her way until she was convinced she had been hallucinating. 

"Are you going to be all right, Leonardo?", Splinter asked as he began to lay back down, focusing with great effort on speaking.

Leo was surprised that Splinter was talking to him, "I should be fine, Sensei. Rest."

Splinter liked the thought of sleep even more now. He nodded, sighing in surrender to his drowsiness, "I will. You be careful, my sons. Come to me if you need anything."

Donatello had to smile, despite what had gone wrong with the day. Once again, everyone seemed to be okay in his family, albeit a little shaken up. He offered to walk Leonardo back out into the lobby, but his brother refused. Donnie knew perfectly well what Leo was doing; his brother always stayed in the same room as whoever else was sick, just in case they needed something. He remembered nights where he got fevers or Mikey ate too much pizza or Raph was just plain angry, and how Leo would stay up all night just watching over them. It only made sense now that he would wish to stay with Splinter.

As Donnie slipped out of the room, Leonardo went into a deep trance. He began meditating on the day's events, trying to piece together some sort of sense out of it. He was frustrated particularly by his constant failure of detecting trouble. Leo wanted to cry, wanted to put all his anger into his katana and stick it in the throat of the snake that attack his father. His emotional pain overwhelmed him, something that he did not want to happen. He wanted to be stronger than this; his brothers and father depended on him.

"Leonardo.", Splinter whispered, catching his pupil's attention, "Come here."

The turtle was very reluctant, standing up and going to see how he had failed his family today. Sensei was very calm, pulling Leonardo down on the bed. The rat and his charge sat there next to each other, simply breathing and analyzing the world around them. Leonardo felt very relaxed, like someone had taken the weight of the world off his shoulders. Maybe everything was okay. Maybe everything would be all right.

Splinter sighed heavily, his voice like a soothing lotion, "It's okay, Leonardo. Rest easy. You have done all you can."

Leonardo breathed deeply, happy to have someone understand him, "I shouldn't have let you walk alone today. If I were there . . .maybe you would have been okay."

Father and son sat in silence again until Splinter found the words he was looking for, "Maybe. But, we cannot change the past. We all fall short of our own expectations. We are our own worst critic."

Leonardo leaned over and wrapped an arm around his father, "I just don't want to loose you, or Donnie, or Mikey, or even Raph."

Splinter laughed a little bit, although it hurt his ribs, "I know. Go be with them. They need you too, you know. You help keep them together."

Leonardo nodded, sliding off the gurney. The world felt a lot colder away from Splinter, but it was probably because he was warm-blooded and Leo was cold-blooded. He took the wisdom Splinter offered with him, closing the door behind him and going back into the lobby. Yeah, everything would be okay. Wasn't everyone alive and accounted for? Wasn't that what mattered? 

Isn't that _everything _that mattered?

-----

Author's Note:

Woo-hoo! Finally, got another chapter done—and even before Christmas! Go me!! ^_^ And I got to bring Ninjara back from the old TMNT Archie comics! Yay!!

I guess I really don't have a lot to say this time around. Have a good Christmas is a good one to tack on, I guess! Also, did you know (for you American readers) that the Fox Box is showing TMNT twice on Saturdays? Kick-ass and cool! Old episodes are on 7:30 and new ones on 9:30, central time for both. 

Also, isn't it great that this Saturday is the last "Turtles in Space" episode? Gawd, I might just survive this season not killing the Fugitoid! 

Well, see ya when I see ya. R&R, and thanks for reading as always. 


	5. Sensemaya

Chapter 5: Sensemayá

__

"He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."-Genesis 3:15

Enmity between snake and man continues as it had in eons before, but it had grown on to other species. The rodents tremor in fear to its power. Birds scorn them when the serpentine beasts eat their offspring. Amphibians of all types readily avoid them, hoping not to met their fate in the maw of a snake. Those of the reptilian world hardly cross paths with them, off on their own hunting duties. Even the mightiest of mammals dare not trifle with the serpent's power. 

All except for, of course, humankind. 

Splinter could not sleep any longer. He felt sore, an aching pain coming back to him. The anesthetics were wearing off, but it was leaving him with such a sore throbbing in his body. His sight was blurry, but he was sure that was just a side-effect from sleeping under anesthesia. He tried concentrating, but all he could think about were silvery teeth clamping into his skin. The pain from being compressed in the snake's folds quickly followed, drawing his attention back to the blood-stained bandages on his chest. If it hadn't been for his sons . . .

He bit his lip, slowly comprehending his sons' actions. It was terribly risky to have come to a human stranger for help. Why did they violate that code, of all the rules they could have broken? Were they afraid? Splinter crossed another terrifying thought, making him shudder a little bit. Did they think he was going to die? Was he?

Shaking his head, Splinter attempted to stand up, crawling off the gurney slowly. His feet, thankfully, were sturdy as ever. The first few steps were like walking in a dense fog, the Sensei almost falling a couple of times. Sure enough, his body finally acclimated to walking again. He would have continued to walk, perhaps gone to find his sons, if his mind didn't cloud again with the thought of the constrictor.

Splinter finally stumbled, barely catching onto one of the cupboards. He sat there for minutes, staring off into the empty distance of the room. His mind was playing tricks on him, almost making him believe there were a pair of orange eyes glaring at him out of the darkness. Where were his sons? Why was he left alone? Millions of suppressed rat fears trickled back into Splinter's head. Out of all his emotions, the feeling of pure helplessness surged over him like a storm. He hadn't felt this way since the death of his beloved Hamato Yoshi. Shaking in the darkness, Splinter almost began crying. He wanted Yoshi back. 

Someone peered into the room, looking around frantically for Splinter. The Sensei almost hid, hoping he wouldn't be found. Looking at the silhouette closer, he noticed that it was only Raphael. He felt much more relaxed, knowing it was one of his sons. Relieving the tension out of his spirit, Splinter whispered, "I'm over here, Raphael."

The turtle jerked his head back slightly, finally making out Splinter's profile from the shadows. He laughed slightly, "What are you doing out of bed, Sensei? You trying to be as dumb as me?"

Splinter chuckled slightly, wobbling as he stood up, "No. I'm just trying to get us home as fast as possible." 

Raphael rolled his eyes, leaning against the door frame. Arms crossed, he retorted, "I don't think we'll be getting home any faster if you try to reenact _The Great Escape_. Geez, maybe that pain killer the doc gave you is causing brain damage."

The Sensei laughed as he sat back down on the gurney, very carefully in doing so. His shoulder began to burn, an intense flare of heat that licked the wound. Raphael noticed the sudden look of pain that had enveloped his father's usually calm expression, creeping into the room like a scared child. The turtle and the rat locked eye contact, staring at each other in some sort of hidden fear. Raphael finally picked up on something that maybe his brothers hadn't yet sensed, "You're scared."

Splinter fought himself internally. No, no, he was fine! The sudden few seconds that he could remember of battle flashed through his head like lightening, like if someone had ripped them out violently from his mind. Splinter felt the terror of almost dying tear through him, his rodent side taking him over again. Looking back at Raphael, he knew he couldn't lie to his son, "Yes, I am."

Both the Sensei and the pupil barely moved during the next few minutes, glancing at each other with shock. Splinter couldn't believe that he was so terrified of such a foe, and Raphael couldn't remember the last time, if there ever was a time, that Splinter was so frightened. Both had convinced each other that they had nothing to fear if their family depended on it, but it had seemed like both had fallen out on that promise. Raphael sat down on the gurney, slightly shaken from the answer. He didn't want to think that the one person who had taught him everything was scared. Both breathed silently, almost avoiding eye contact. 

"I can't believe I just said that.", Splinter half-heartidly sighed, "I'm sorry, Raphael."

"Don't be.", the turtle replied, "I . . .guess I didn't think about . . .you know, that. I know Leo used to be scared to death of snakes, but I didn't think you were too."

Splinter hung his head, feeling extremely guilty, "Raphael, it is nothing. I just . . .what I mean . . .I don't want you to be concerned."

Raphael almost took in a sort of quiet laugh, mocking Splinter's voice, "Fear should not defeat you before your opponent." The Sensei was able to look him straight in the eye again, surprised to hear his son. Raphael chuckled, "You know, I do listen to you when I want to."

Both of them laughed slightly, a quick rush of wind being the only audible noise. Tears rolled out of Splinter's eyes, his sorrow quickly evaporating. His sons were there for him! They had helped him like . . .family. Had he been so foolish as to forget that he had their love and they his? Raphael saw him cry, and he rejoiced a little bit more, "See? You're fine, you geezer."

"Geezer?", Splinter chuckled, "If I had the strength, I'd take you on right now!"

"Oh yeah?!", Raphael playfully hissed, giving his father a light nudge, "I'd like to see that happen!" The turtle recalled suddenly why he was here, "Speaking of getting your strength back, my brothers and I ordered some pizza. The humans got some Chinese. Maybe you'd like to come out and eat?"

Splinter was more than ready to face his sons again, "That idea sounds good, yes."

Raphael tore out of the back room like a puppy, turning around to watch for his father. The rat came out as fast as he could, a steady amble. Raph cackled again, hoisting his dad over his shoulder, "Oops, you're too slow!" Splinter tried breaking loose from his son's grasp, "Oh, come on, Raphael! This isn't right! I can walk!"

"Tough love, Sensei!", Raphael laughed again.

-----

Leonardo was peacefully relaxing in the lobby, slowly sipping on a Coke. He didn't drink soda often, but when he did, he enjoyed it. Donatello was next to him, fingers hammering away on his laptop. Donnie brought it with him all the time in his satchel, mainly to keep his mind busy. Mikey was busy chowing on pizza and watching TV with Casey, both eagerly yelling at it when some muck-head messed up a play. April was sitting behind Don on the old couch, watching him with quiet fascination. Doctor Swartz and Carmencita were in the main house, waiting for someone to come and pick her up while distracting her from seeing the turtles again. Diana and Ninjara were chilling together in the office with the rest of the gang, fairly mute for the most point. However, that peace was disturbed by loud bass singing, "My blood runs cold; my memory has just been sold!"

Michaelangelo, never one to pass up the opportunity to sing, began to do so, "My angel is the center—Raph, put Splinter down!"

Raphael swung into the room, a ridiculously huge grin on his face. Splinter was draped over his left shoulder like a fur boa, his expression sheepish. Ninjara cracked up a little bit, covering her face with her hand. Donatello shook his head, getting back to his work. Leonardo was a little freaked out, "Raphael, should you be doing that? I mean, he just had surgery!"

Raphael chuckled again, sliding Splinter back onto the floor, "Hey, he was the one trying to walk outta here. Just thought I'd speed him up."

Casey yanked Raphael over to the TV set, carefully slipping around the room, "You won't believe how bad these college kids are playing today!"

Raphael shrugged as he shoved himself a spot between Casey and Michaelangelo, "Yeah, well, they must be pretty good to get to where they are now."

Splinter settled down between April and Leonardo, filling up an otherwise vacuous space. Leo glanced briefly at his Sensei, feeling like something was wrong. The rat shook his head, denying Leo's suspicions. Raising a slight brow, Leonardo shut his feelings off, knowing what Splinter was getting at. Sometimes, just for the turtles' sake, the rat would try to block pain out. Leonardo, of course, had learned to sense when he was doing that.

Diana felt sorely out of place compared to the rest of the group. The mutants themselves were almost like ghosts to her, intangible concepts of reality. The two humans were perfectly fine with having half animal companions, so they didn't even look freaked out. Perhaps even worse, the creatures were acting human—every little gesture, every infliction of personality, all were so much like the human race. If they acted like animals, maybe she'd be less freaked out. She had no idea that such beings that looked like monsters could be so . . .normal.

Splinter smiled slightly, pondering Donatello's work, "Donatello, Nani maro o wa-kingu?"

Donatello laughed, speaking almost unconsciously, "Kaimu, Sensei." Foreign languages were almost like a code to him, so he could easily pick up any sort of language up with little to no difficulty. 

Leonardo eagerly joined in on the conversation, "Ikaga maro kokochi?"

Splinter replied, "Watashi gozen kimochiii, Leonardo. Domo Arigatou."

Casey glared angrily over his shoulder, "If you three are talking about me in Japanese, I'm gunna pop you one."

Diana snickered in the corner of the room, covering her face with her hand in embarrassment. She had no idea how insane everyone else was! These people obviously spent way too much time together. Shaking her head in disbelief, she suppressed laughing further. She felt weird enough around these people.

Something outside slammed like thunder, causing everyone to stop talking and listen intently. Instinctively, the turtles hid, disappearing within the blink of an eye. Ninjara joined them in hiding, fading into the darkness seconds later. Sliding off the couch, Splinter settled on the floor, watching out the window at the same time with child-like curiosity. Casey and April looked outside also, noticing that the storm had picked back up outside. In the torrent of rain and mud, two dark figures were arguing. Diana was confused, about to step outside to check out what was going on.

Casey signaled roughly for the frightened woman to come stand by them, feeling that something was seriously wrong. By no means did he believe in odd senses or fate, like his companions, but he still felt weird. Diana was quick to obey, slinking over towards the window and away from the door. Loud thunder sounded off in the distance, an ominous roar that echoed against the sided exterior of the vet clinic. Shortly after the strike, another loud sound reverberated into the twilight air. It was the sound of an argument brewing.

"Ma'am, your ride should be here any minute. Please, just wait inside the house.", Dr. Swartz was trying to talk sense into the disturbed Carmencita again, but with no luck. The lady had been convinced that she was going slowly but steadily crazy—her car crashing in the storm, the death of her driver, yes, that was making her mad, surely. However, she was not about to drop the subject that she saw a giant rat. She might be frightened, but by no means was she hallucinating!

Carmencita snapped, "Sure, and who will be driving that? A chimp?!"

There was no sense of rationality to the conversation, one snapping and the other trying to calm down. Their words would come to a soft growl, then rose into a screeching crash. The storm overhead continued to rage on, rumbling and chanting to an unknown god of massacre. Lightening began to crackle increasingly closer to the farm, glinting in the twilight sky like slashing knives. The minor words of the doctor and the woman were lost in the howling storm, a minor buzzing in the ear of omnipotent forces. Less and less did their humanity remain in the storm's wake.

Then, there was one final crackle, one strike from fate's sacrificial dagger. Lightening had not struck, taking an almost ironic pause in their natural orchestra. A serpent in the flesh had not come, but one in the spirit had. All of the groves' witnesses and those still inside the small vet clinic watch in utter dismay as a Smith & Wesson revolver breathed but only one bullet. The breath of the metal dragon struck the doctor in the temple, exiting out the back of his skull mere milliseconds later. The moment seemed unceremonious, but its effects were permanent—Gerald Swartz was no more.

No sound of mourning came from Diana's throat. She slid down on the floor very slowly, making sure to hide herself from the view of the window. Casey and April jumped back in shock, also finally taking places to hide. Splinter had disappeared with the rest of his sons at the flash of the bullet, his animal nature sending him scurrying. Casey flipped the lights off, hoping that Carmencita didn't notice that there were still people inside the vet's clinic. No one knew how many bullets she had in that gun, and no one was ready to find out.

A black car, Charon's raft to the corpse of the doctor, pulled into the dirt driveway. Some burly man got out of the driver's seat, signaling for Carmencita to come with him. She settled down in the shotgun position, leaving the muscle-bound person with the body. He threw the corpse into the trunk of the BMW, then returned to his seat with no change of facial expression. Only one masked face dared to look outside the window of the office, identifying the man in a sputter of hate, "Hun."

Diana barely whispered, "Who is that?"

The red-masked turtle slunk back into the shadows, muttering, "Shut up, and move when I tell you to."

Many more thunderous strikes of lightening came to pass before anyone dared to reappear. Diana almost felt abandoned, wishing she could find someone's eye contact in the dark. The sputtering of a car driving off into the distance was enough of a safe insurance to reveal the humans. Several minutes later, the turtles and their companions re-emerged into the room, still wary and cautious. Barely anyone had any words to say.

Finally, after an unusually long period of silence, Casey Jones dared to speak, "How does that crazy chick know Hun?"

Raphael shook in anger, his body twitching, "Who the hell cares?! That psycho-bitch just murdered somebody in front of our eyes! Hell, we could have all been killed if we were spotted!"

April and Ninjara went to comfort Diana, both sensing her pain. She could feel nothing—it was like someone reached into her heart and ripped it out. Mumbling some incomplete thoughts, she murmured, "We've got to call the cops."

Raphael snapped again, "Yeah, sure! Let's call the cops! Hello, officer? Yes, this old man just got shot out in the middle of a fricken' farm! What? No, we don't have a body! It's not like we're bloody humans or something—oh, wait! We aren't!"

Splinter sighed in disbelief, "Raphael . . ." He had very little strength to rebuke his son further, "We must leave before others show up."

Michaelangelo lifted a brow, " . . .others?

Leonardo took a quick hurried look outside, "If Hun hears about us being here. . .the rest of the Foot Clan comes after us. We must go—and, Diana, I believe you must come with us."

Hesitant as she was, Diana was not wanting to meet up with the same fate as her grandfather. Her world was still numb, but she was not going to sentence herself to her own death. She had to leave immediately if there was any chance for her grandfather's death to be avenged. As much as she hated to leave the farm, she had to go with these strangers—it was her only choice.

"Let me just lock up before we leave.", Diana let the rest of the group go outside, still shaken from the entire ordeal. If she could only cry, maybe she could prove to herself that this was real. Could any of this be real?

Casey assisted April and Splinter into the back seat, leaving room for Diana to take shotgun. The turtles and Ninjara dove under a thin blanket in the back seat, the fox-lady mumbling about getting her fur wet. Within mere moments of her life, it seemed to Diana that she had lost everything that tied her to reality. It seemed as if nothing was real anymore. Who would believe her if she told them that her grandfather had been murdered due to some sort of gang of ninjas who were fighting giant reptiles?

However, one solid thing remained about the day between the events of the morning and the events at dusk. The enmity between snake and man was growing—as eyes unknown to our heroes watched them speed away with a burning desire. Yes, the true master would be happy to know that he had left his mark on the rat and his charges. Even more so, he would be grateful to know of their weakness and location. The pupil of darkness with his eyes like that of eagles slipped away into the night, watching as the Chevy Silverado sped away from the abandoned farm house and clinic.

The master of the serpents would rejoice to find his prey.

-----

Author's Note:

Not much going on here. I hope to right the next chapter as a little bit more action packed, but I really wanted to get some boring stuff out of the way first. Not that, you know, psycho people killing each other isn't interesting or anything. I just like big melee brawls.

Here's hoping that you'll find the next chapter more interesting . . .hang with me here!

Also, Sensemayá was a song my high-school's choir sang this year. It's a chant for killing a snake. Classy, no? :P

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	6. Taking the Path less Traveled

Chapter 6: Taking the Path Less Traveled

Hardly anybody gets to take their own road in life. We wish to walk along our own hidden path, wish to follow our own will and way. However, there are forces beyond our control that force us to bend, to change course and run with the wind. Walking throughout life without challenge or upset is not living at all. Sometimes, in our dark travels throughout mortal life, we can laugh at the wind that forces us off-course—such is the beauty of the chaos of life.

However, one particular man has found his power greater in law than chaos. He judges all by ethics, all twisted and corrupted by hate. His revenge is just in his eyes, his sword a mallet of veracity and scorn to his foes. Few people dared to fight against his power, fearing his might and will. Those that dare dishonor him were cut from the earth like a tumor from a body. The only disease that could still plague him was a band of terrapin creatures that had grown from the silent energy of their vermin father.

Recently, the menacing judge had received a message that all five of his prey had slipped through his fingers. His loyal servant Hun had reported a possible sighting of the turtles and their Sensei, but when he went to go to find them, they had already vanished. It frustrated the leader so much, but he could not deny that Hun had helped him in his search for vengeance. As barbaric as it sounds, the foreboding pursuer would enjoy spilling the creatures' blood. He was sick of their interference with his plans, and was more than ready to rid himself of their pestilence. 

"Sir.", a timid voice rang throughout his holographic system. Slowly lowering his green tea, the menacing human answered his call, only nodding his head as a slow acceptance of the messenger.

The person speaking to him was one of his many underlings, one so inferior to him that he did not even know their name. Garbed in a solid black and gray tunic, the peon was expressionless and placid. The minion knew such a peace within himself that he needed not to have emotion or individual thought; his master would lead him well. His voice slightly picking up, the underling reported, "We found something in the sewers during our search for the turtles. I believe you may wish to see this."

The dark Sensei sighed, only slightly talking, "Bring it up here, and I will decide whether or not it was worth my time."

Only minutes later, a humble group of soldiers came into his private lair and dojo. Hoisted in their arms was a long, heavy beast that looked somewhat like a mutated serpent. It was obviously dead, its eyes glazed over with a filmy liquid. Taking extra care to set the body down, the group abandoned the body to their master's judgment. The beast smelt slightly rotten, lacerations and bruises in its sides indicating that it had died from massive cranial trauma and blood loss. Although the body had little meaning for the clan leader, he still seemed interested.

The Sensei narrowed his eyes, "What does this mean to you?"

One slightly braver soldier bowed before his lord, then tried to explain what he and his group thought with taking home the dead corpse, "It appears to have been attacked by our quarry. We also found bits of cloth lodged in its teeth—brown cloth, to be exact."

The clan master was pleased, "It engaged combat with the turtles, you suggest?"

Once again, the soldier almost exploded with anticipation, "We also suggest that it may have cause serious—perhaps terminal—damage to their leader. This may explain Hun's sighting."

While he was amused with such findings, the lord of the ninjas slightly growled, "Hun is your master, as I am his."

The soldier quickly repented for his actions, and allowed his Sensei to continue, "Good, then. Is there any other use we can receive from this body? Perhaps a time of death?"

A warm, yet chilling voice replied behind the master, "I have already figured out that out, Oruku Saki." 

Turning to the being sitting behind him, Master Saki acknowledged the presence of his third power. This brainiac that he had hired was, to pun a famous phrase, more machine now than man. Such mutilation had been a price for failing the Sensei; the scientist would dare not try such affairs against him again. At least almost a year had gone by without the genius getting into such business with the Foot Clan and the turtle mutants, but now he was provided with such an opportunity that would provide him with great scientific power. Baxter Stockman always predicated chances, but rarely got so lucky as to act upon them.

Stockman continued with his explanation, "Death was approximately six hours ago, or so. The samples from the body are fresh enough to make clones from, if you would wish to use my services again . . ."

Saki was, if anything, reluctant to trust the scientist. He had experienced his fair share of back-stabbing from the man, and he was always careful not to repeat history. However, if it meant ridding himself of the rest of Hamato Yoshi's cursed pet and its charges, he would tolerate the presence of Baxter once again. In reluctance, Saki nodded, "Very well. Try anything again, and I'll have to disembowel you. Are we clear?"

Baxter smiled, hiding any sort of dirty ideas or plans, "Yes, Saki."

Master Saki nodded, then returned to his foot clan members, "Take this to Stockman's lab, and have him do as he wishes with it. Then, I wish for you all to keep an open eye out for the turtles. They could not have gone far if one of them is fairing ill."

Only time could bring the beasts to him, and Saki had all of that in the world.

-----

Nothing drives creatures like primeval instincts. Of these feelings, nothing compels living beings like lust or hatred. Jealousy burns in the pit of our hearts, corrupting us and turning us away from our set path. Desperate want turns us into slaves of desire, our love of something beyond our reach chaining us back from other goals. To live apart from such want and anger is a life pure, albeit a life unchallenged. Even the strongest-willed men have desires, needs that will go unfulfilled. 

If it were to be his sole greatest sin in life, Splinter's desire would be to be able to speak to his master once more.

The Sensei had been watching his sons out of the window of the Chevy since they had gotten back onto the main road. They had all kept themselves drier by the means of a couple scrap blankets. Ninjara was keeping their minds occupied with conversation, regaling them of her past tales since she had last seen the turtles. Splinter couldn't help but feel a little guilty for having his sons sitting out in the pouring rain twice in one day. Worse yet, he had caused the death of someone that didn't need to be entangled in this mess between his family and the Foot Clan. 

"Hey, you in the back! Sit down!", Casey playfully crabbed with Splinter, pushing the rat down so he could see out the back window. April nudged the driver, shaking her head in embarrassment. She wished he would pay more attention to the road than the back seat passengers, especially with the terrible rain.

Splinter sat back down in his seat, hoping that they would reach their destination as soon as possible. The humans had been debating where they should go, both fairly sure that the turtles should not return to the sewers quite yet. With some more arguing, they decided that Casey's apartment would be the safest place to go, especially if the Foot Clan had suddenly become active again. They had not been as disturbed about this sudden revival of the clan as Splinter was; didn't they destroy the Shredder months back? The whole situation was disheartening, to say the least.

"Miss Diana, what do we need to do to assist you?", Splinter was trying to help the coping passenger heal, but it was very difficult. She had remained silent the entire time, not able to shed so much as a tear. She kept a face that was solemn, almost stone-like—a very disturbing expression. Sometimes Leonardo or Raphael could give Splinter the very same "silent treatment", but both were able to shake off that expression within time. He didn't know what to do with this woman.

Diana picked carefully though her mind, "Just drop me off at the police station. I'll deal with the legal ends there."

April wasn't too fond of the idea, "But, where will you go? You left your car at the farm."

The cold woman continued to be very silent, "I'll get a ride back with the cops, I suppose. Wish I could have just remembered to take my car."

Casey suggested, "You know, I can still go back and get it."

Diana refused that idea with almost every fiber in her mind, "No. Just get me to New York. I'll deal with it."

The remainder of the car trip remained icy, no one bothering to speak. Guilt kept building up inside of Splinter, one sole thought running across his mind: _it's my fault._ He had to take responsibility for not being able to stop Oruku Saki from murdering Yoshi; taking responsibility for another death was hard to tolerate. The sores on his side began to burn once more, although he positive that not all of the pain killers had worn off.

A couple more empty minutes passed before Casey reached the NYPD. Even as she departed, Diana barely murmured any words. She quickly muttered her thanks, then stepped out of the pick-up. Both April and Casey were astonished at her cold attitude, expecting sadness from the woman, but not a frozen attitude. Speaking as quickly as his mind could turn, Splinter blurted out, "I'm sorry."

Diana turned around to acknowledge the Sensei, somewhat astonished at the rat's words. She sighed in sorrow, then murmured under her breath, "It wasn't your fault."

The last of Dr. Swartz's family finally left the Chevy, only looking behind her to confirm the sincere honesty of Splinter's statement. Almond eyes remained fixed on her until the pick-up began to drive away. Even from the back of the Chevy, Diana could see five sets of eyes watching their environment with child-like fascination. It occurred to her that maybe the rat was sorry, that he did feel terrible. Maybe the rest of the group did too, but weren't sure how to say it. She felt a little worse knowing that she had given them such horrible treatment. 

Turning into the New York Police Department, Diana wondered how she could ever explain all of this—to anyone.

-----

There are things in life that stand in our ways like a giant brick wall, unbending and solid in their attempts to deter us. Nothing can quite stand in our paths more than other people, especially in large numbers. People are often times the only reason that we fail in our attempts to succeed, discouraging or intimidating us. To the Ninja Turtles, nothing could hold them back more literally than the power of the Shredder's right-hand man, Hun. 

Towering over the much shorter Turtles, Shredder's prized pupil could easily crush human bone with one punch. His weight was almost solely found in his muscles, weight-lifting and exercise a very obvious part of his lifestyle. His hair was greasy and an almost fake color of blonde, tied back for the most part in a rattail. The glare from his dark eyes could unsettle the strongest will, and more often than not, that look defeated his enemies far before he laid a finger on them. Three red lines ran down his left cheek, a solemn reminder of the day of Hamato Yoshi's death. He was built for murder—and that was what he did best.

The bulking human watched in the shadows as a rusty truck parked under him. He smirked as his prey slowly emerged from the machine's insides, a smile that quickly faded away as he realized that the group had picked up another ally. He did not know who that fox-lady was, but he was intrigued that there was another beast like the Turtles. Taking in a few more minutes to observe his foes, a group of Foot Ninja sat behind him, restless in their patience. Within one second of change, Hun snapped his wrist, signaling the Ninja to follow his lead.

There was a gentle flutter of cloth, making less noise than a pigeon's wings in the air. Black clouded the vision of the Turtles, surrounding them and their companions on all sides. Leonardo slowly drew both swords, creating a metal barrier between the enemies that flanked him and his family. Hun slowly eyed them all like a wolf eyes cornered sheep, grinning in satisfaction at the sight of the fear he found in their face. Smiling coyly, he flicked his hand at his Ninja troop again, leaving a small path open. The group was slightly confused until Hun chuckled, "I don't like fighting with women. They may leave."

Ninjara's blue eyes flared angrily, "You underestimate me. I hate being underestimated . . ."

Raphael cut Ninjara's plans short, "Take April and go to Casey's apartment. If you are attacked, fight there."

The fox-lady was confused, arguing, "Raphael, what about you guys?"

Settling the matter very quickly, Raphael sharply remarked, "Umeko, now is not the time." 

Ninjara often times hated being called her real name, but she knew that Raphael meant to truly back off by using it. She withdrew her wakazashi, signaling for April to follow her. Both women watched their companions over their shoulders as they entered the apartment building, wary to leave their friends to die. Leonardo store at them, confirming Raph's orders, then focused his mind back on the battle. Obediently, they continued inside, but they hoped that their friends would not meet a bitter end.

Leonardo quickly growled, "Let our Sensei leave with them. This is not his fight."

Hun smirked, a small uplift in his usual sneer, "I have my orders from my master, too. He may believe that fighting women without provocation is wrong, but not if his enemy is ill."

Raphael coughed one small word, "Bastard."

The burly man snarled at the surly turtle, "Enough of this. Let's fight." 

Lightening jarred the heavens as one unfortunate Ninja felt the crack of a fist impacting into his jaw. Splinter's pupils narrowed as he refocused his attack against the adversary, some repressed anger flaring in his irises as he struck the first decisive move. Raphael sneered, cackling just a little bit in victory and rejoicing in the Ninja's injury. Hun, while mildly taken aback, snapped another quick battle command with his hand. Swinging wildly, he barely missed connecting with Casey and Michaelangelo, both dropping to the cold cement as fast as possible. Taking advantage of the situation, Mike grabbed onto the ankles of an oncoming assailant and dragged him to the floor, bashing him down with his nunchaku. Unfortunately, the Foot clan member was able to get a solid hold on the turtle and began to pummel him into the side of a fire escape ladder. Two more swarmed on the hapless group, pinning Raphael and Splinter against the brick walls of the apartment building.

"Gawd, this was not the way I was planning to spend today!", Raphael coughed between shallow breaths.

Splinter nodded in agreement, then lodged his feet between his chest and his opponent's. With a strong kick, the rat sent the Foot member sprawling onto the floor, freeing him from the Ninja's tight grasp. Raphael growled in anger, then ripped into his assailant, his sai nearly tearing the Foot's entire arm off. The red-garbed turtle snickered in revenge, snarling, "We have got to get a better hobby than this."

Casey finally came to his senses, noticing the huge figure that towered over him. Hun smiled through one side of his mouth, then hurdled his iron fist towards the prone vigilante. With milliseconds to spare, Casey barrel-rolled out of danger's path, Hun's fist smashing into the pavement. Cement chunks flew out in random directions, scratching Casey's arm in a bloody scrape. Jones twisted himself back onto his feet as fast as possible, quickly arming himself with the nearest weapon he could find—a trash can lid. 

Donatello had made a quick headcount in the meantime, estimating his family's odds against the swarms of Ninjas. He believed that with some major effort they could defeat them, but his pessimistic side begged to differ. Looking for the quickest distraction he could find, Don yanking a fire extinguisher off the side of the building. His first instinct was to wonder what idiot would put a fire extinguisher on the outside of an apartment building versus inside, then noticed that Casey and Hun were engaged in combat and suppressed his curiosity. Without hesitation, Don ran up behind the behemoth man and smashed the back of his head with the extinguisher. Gas exploded out of the extinguisher, knocking Donnie to the ground. Thankfully, the explosion had provided enough of a distraction to let Casey begin his assault on Hun. The muscle-bound man never saw the can lid coming toward his face, although he heard a definite battle cry, "GOONGALA!!"

Michaelangelo still couldn't break free of his assailant. Taking in what little precious oxygen he could get, he hissed in irritation as his pump-like lungs forced air back out of his body. Cold metal pipes suddenly came into his grasp, as he could feel the fire escape's railing. Summoning what little strength he had to defend himself, Mike flipped onto the escape, sending his hapless pursuer flying off in mid-air. Mikey's Sensei barely had time to dodge the flung Foot, his enemy struck by the projectile human. Casey's reflexes were not as good, and two humans crash-landed directly on top of him. Splinter gave his son a silent look of confusion, and all Mikey could say was, "What? I had to do that!"

Flanking the blue turtle on all sides, numerous Foot members pounced upon Leonardo's shell, pulling him down to the ground. The pressure on his shell forced him to his knees, both of his arms bracing himself instead of lashing out at any opportune time. With a howl of frustration, Leonardo pushed himself up out of the massive dog-pile of Ninjas, sending the underlings flying off in all directions. He panted in desperation, awaiting the second attack of the Foot. Taking only moments to observe his surroundings, he noticed that the storm was growing worse, rain pouring heavier from the skies above him.

Even as the massive storm continued above him, soaking his fur and chilling him to the bone, Splinter dared not slow down to rest. He continued to pursue his enemy, leaping over Hun and landing on top of his quarry. Wrapping his tail around the Foot soldier's neck, he ripped into the human's clothes, flaying him with his claws. Yanking the Ninja back on his feet, Splinter was able to gracefully dodge his counterattack, grabbing the human's Kusari-Gama out of his hand and hooking it into his left shoulder. Blood splattered onto the pavement as the Foot Ninja uttered a single cry of pain.

Raphael's eyes flared with an intense anger, watching the blood of the Foot Ninja spill onto the sidewalk. Another ally of the Foot charged at Splinter, attempting to strike the Sensei in retaliation. Raphael's heart nearly skipped a beat as his father barely dodged the blow. The back of his throat began to burn, his face contorting in anger and shock. Without any warning, Raphael slammed his sais into the back of the assailant, his sais embedding themselves into the Ninja's shoulder blades. The unsettling sound of crunched bone echoed throughout the street arena and into the alleyways.

After regaining his wits, Hun winced through the cloud of vapor that had settled around his head. He spun around hastily, quickly finding Donatello. The purple turtle gazed into his eyes, suddenly regretting hitting the behemoth over the head with that fire extinguisher. Hun stepped onto the turtle's plastron, kneeling down slowly to lengthen his foe's punishment. The scent of raw meat on Hun's breath was just about enough to make Donnie gag. Twisting Hun's ankle as fast as he could, he leapt back up onto his feat, inertia tossing Hun into a fire hydrant. The pressure within the hydrant burst through metal, spraying the battle field with the rain. Fortunately, the blow was enough to stun Hun for a moment, and Don was not one for wasting a chance to re-arm himself. 

Michaelangelo took the briefest moment to observe what was going down around him. He still wasn't feeling the peppiest since he had gotten his precious oxygen back. Hun's forces continued to wear down on his family, Leo and Raph taking the brunt of the punishment. Don was doing quite well, having reclaimed his bo staff. One foolish Foot was smashed in the mouth by that lethal wooden beam, the impact crunching several teeth. Another attempted to strike Donatello down, recognizing that he could effectively wipe out his partners if left undamaged too long. Mikey quickly defended his brother, knocking one Ninja backwards and taking another out of commission with a sharp whack on the head. Don was pleasantly surprised to find he had back up, "Ah, you stole my kill!"

"Nyah-nah!!", Mikey taunted, sticking his tongue out. He spun back around in battle to find out that a Foot had raised his Katana inches above his head and was ready to cleave, "Gwaah!!!"

Splinter tackled the Foot, leaping at him with such ferocious speed that he had no time to defend himself. Both slammed into the ground, Splinter's knees embedded into the Ninja's chest. The Sensei growled under his breath, quickly disarming the clan member with ease. Mike counted every last one of his lucky stars, then rapidly knocked out the Ninja with a single blow to his temple. He helped Splinter get back on his feet, feeling some lack of strength.

"Hey, you going to be all right?", Michaelangelo questioned. Splinter sighed, fatigued for less than a moment, then nodded. The young student hurried back onto the defense, scanning the battle grounds for his next area of attack. Hesitating less than a second, Splinter quickly followed after his son, knowing that he would fair better in greater numbers.

Raphael and Donatello had made a tag-team of destruction, in the meantime. Where Donnie was like a wooden blender of pain, Raphael was taking on his prey one by one. The duo were like a vicious pair of wolves, tearing the lives and souls of their enemies right out. However, Don notice that Leonardo still seemed to be having difficulties holding out on his own, so he quickly went to assist his blue-banded brother. 

Leonardo kept throwing enemies off his back, pummeling them into the ground before slashing their necks. It was like the Foot had decided to swarm on him, that he deserved the full brunt of their assault. There was no time to catch his breath between each attack, so Leonardo had to rely alone on his lightening reflexes. Every melee seemed to go on like an endless dance, and his body was quickly wearing down. Thankfully, like freedom from torture, Donatello and Raphael came to his assistance. 

The world became a cyclone of pain for Casey Jones. He didn't expect Hun to be so damn agile for such a large guy. Bruises on his body began to burn like a fire, and he couldn't see well out of one eye. As much as he hated to admit it, Casey needed to retreat as soon as possible. Even moving caused wracking pain to travel all over his body. He laid on the concrete floor, surrendering to the intense damage that Hun had caused. He couldn't believe that he was giving in to the very power that had ruined his life. Hun snickered at Jones, then wound up for the last punch.

There was a smack of flesh hitting flesh, but there was no injury.

Splinter groaned under the massive strength of Hun's fist, holding it inches away from his chest. Casey opened his eyes in wide amazement, panting and regaining his energy. The Sensei murmured under his breath, "Get to safety. My sons and I will finish this." The vigilante was in no mood to argue, swiftly moving to his feet and away from the battle. As soon as Casey had gotten to safety, Splinter and Hun re-entered combat, the burly man knocking the rat to the ground with a swift punch into his muzzle.

Michaelangelo jumped onto Hun's back, holding him away from his father with nunchakus grasped tightly around Hun's neck. Saki's pupil was able to shake the turtle off, flinging him to the pavement. Neither the turtle or the rat flinched as another meteor-like punch hurdled towards them, both rolling out of the way. By some means of luck or grace, Splinter knocked Hun down with a quick roundhouse kick. Mikey leaped onto the henchmen's chest, slamming many flurried punches into Hun's face. The orange turtle and his Sensei joined forces, one holding Hun down while the other beat on him. 

Two gargantuan hands locked onto the necks of Mikey and Splinter, thumbs pressed ever so slightly on their tracheas. They gasped in surprise before being tossed like rag dolls into the side of a dumpster. Mike whimpered in slight pain, gingerly rubbing his neck. Splinter had the wind knocked out of him, coughing almost uncontrollably. Their eyes met that of Hun's as he came back into the alley to finish them off. With what breath he could get, Splinter hollered in desperation, "Leonardo!!"

Like an untamable force of nature, the blue-marked turtle latched onto Hun's arms, throwing him off of his family. Raphael quickly joined in punching the crap out of Hun, latching Saki's crony to the ground with his sais. Donatello went on the defense, blocking any other Foot members from attacking his family. With a simple growl and spin of his bo, Donnie knocked the small remainder of Ninja back, then returned to protecting Mikey and Splinter. 

Leonardo grabbed Hun by his shirt, speaking to him in a low, reprimanding voice, "You will call off your troops and retreat back to Oruku Saki, or you will die. Is that understood?" To further prove his point, Leo held one katana centimeters away from Hun's neck. 

Hun spat in the blue turtle's face, then barked to the remainder of his attack party, "Go." Instantly, the seven that remained from the band split, disappearing into the shadows like the moon at dawn. Leonardo slowly got off of Hun, still keeping an edge of his blade close to the man's neck. The burly man walked slowly out of the alley, turning around only to acknowledge his defeat to the turtles.

"Well fought, freaks.", Hun humored, his tone slightly lighter than usual, "So, what that woman said was true . . ."

"What woman?!", Raphael hissed, quickly running up behind his brother. 

"That one I picked up back at that vet's farm. Turns out she owes us some money, so she offered us information instead. That's the way the drug war's played, you know.", Hun jeered.

Donatello was extremely cautious with his question, supporting his brother Mikey at the same time, "What did she tell you?"

Hun smirked, then disappeared in a flash of bright powder. The only piece of information he gave them was, "About him."

Leonardo was befuddled, confused at how fast Hun had vanished. He refocused his mind, helping Donatello out in aiding Mikey to get back into the apartment. Splinter was all right on his own, for better or worse. Never-the-less, Raphael followed his family, making sure no one was going to sneak up on them as they got back into the apartment. They had one this battle, and that helped lift Raph's spirits just a tiny bit.

-----

After climbing what seemed to be a million stairs, the turtles and Splinter reached Casey's apartment. Inside, the place was trashed, socks and laundry flung all over the place. Beer cans sat everywhere, most of them crowded in a small flock near the recliner. Exercise equipment lined the walls from stair-steppers to Tread-mills to weights. It smelt like human body odor and Doritos. 

"Oh my god, are you guys all right?", April asked as the group stumbled in, leaning on the walls and each other for support. Mikey gave a thumbs up before he crashed onto the ground in a dazed slumber. Raphael cursed a few times, then hauled his brother onto one of the couches. Donatello nodded, a smile still on his face even through burning hell. 

Leonardo questioned, "Is Casey going to be okay?"

The vigilante, upon hearing his name, began to create a ruckus from his bedroom, "Oh, the pain! The pain! I think I'm going to go into the light!"

Raphael yelled back, "I think I'm going to shove my foot up the bright light's ass!"

Ninjara was sitting in the kitchen, her feet on the table. She seemed to still resent not being able to fight, but she was glad that her friends hadn't returned to her in a body bag. Making light conversation, she laughed, "You're not telling me that the injured rat outlasted mighty Casey Jones, are you?"

Casey came charging out of his bedroom, holding an ice-pack to his eye, "Hey! He wasn't playing punching bag to the Jolly Green Giant!"

Splinter sighed, sitting down at the kitchen table. Donatello and Leonardo followed him while Raphael abducted the recliner. All of them closed their eyes just for a moment, relaxing from the intense battle. Something twitched nervously next to Donatello's feet, abruptly reawakening the turtle. Splinter was shaking, limping slightly as if he were a wilting plant. Ninjara also began to look very tired, her eyes narrowing and her breathing slowing down. It was like both of them suddenly lost their strength.

"Ninjara? Splinter?", Don whispered nervously, rocking them slightly. Neither responded, both locked in a comatose slumber, "Come on, guys! What's wrong?!"

Leonardo snapped back to attention, "Oh god, what now?"

"Ninjara!! Splinter!!", Donnie tried shrieking at both of them, but neither awoke. His heart began to race, scared like a frightened child. Why couldn't they hear him? What was going on?!

"**NINJARA!! SPLINTER!!** . . .oh god . . ."

-----

Author's Note:

Yippee Skippy! Another chapter down! I hope this was a little more fast-paced, for those of you that like action scenes. 

Well, it's the day before Valentine's day. You know what? Love stinks! XD

I plan to get the next chapter written by mid-March. In the meantime, please review! We authors beg for reviews like a dog for treats! 


	7. From Beneath You It Devours

Chapter 7: From Beneath you it Devours

"This... just the beginning, love. A warm-up act. The real headliner's coming, and when that band hits the stage, all of this... all this... will come tumbling in death and screaming, horror and bloodshed. From beneath you, it devours."—Spike, AKA William the Bloody

There was no wind across the empty plains of the mind. Dry, wilted grass silently grew out of the brown dirt. Willows were bent over from age, almost groaning from the pain. Pale dusty roses were fading away across the plains, giving up hope and dying before their time. A small filthy stream trickled through grass and plants, its murky surface reflecting nothing. Black stained-glass skies were covered in clouds, dust choking everything. The realm was empty, devoid of the true essence and energy of life.

Ninjara had no clue where the hell she was.

Taking small steps into the unknown land, she kept cautious. Although she would like to yell on the top of her lungs in anger, she knew better than that. She drew her wakazashi, still surveying the distorted land with an eagle's eye. Every breath was taking with great care, the vixen still wary of her surroundings. She had to find a way out of there as soon as possible.

Hopping onto one of the many large gray rocks, Ninjara looked at the muddy river. Frowning in confusion, she threw a pebble into the brook. The pebble sunk instantly as it hit the water's surface, leaving no ripples. This just befuddled Ninjara even more. All that she could gather from her anger was that she was definitely **_not_ **in Casey Jones's apartment anymore, perhaps not even on Earth.

A tiny pocket of dirt sucked into the ground next to her rock, disappearing like if a vacuum had come from under it and just nixed it from the world. The hole began to grow, its circumference expanding in a perfect circle. Ninjara leapt off her rock in shock, watching as the stream, plants, and dirt began disappear into the maw of the hole. She ran as fast as she could, hoping that maybe she'd be just a little faster than the hole. Rocks and dead grass disappeared into the hole, the ground underneath them ripped out from them.

"Oh Shhhhhiiiiiiiii . . .", Ninjara cursed as the ground came to swallow her too.

-----

Donatello quickly drug Splinter's body to the kitchen floor, laying him down very gently. Raphael did the same, relaxing Ninjara onto the linoleum. The group of four turtles tried to remain calm, all successful except for the now wound-up Michaelangelo. The orange turtle squealed, "Oh my god, their brains have been taken over by the Borg!!!" His foolishness was quickly corrected by the back-hand slap of Raphael.

Leonardo was utterly dismayed, "Don, what's going on? Are they having seizures?"

Donatello shrugged, his brow clenched in thought, "I don't know. This sure doesn't seem like a seizure . . .their bodies are way too stiff, for one."

Mikey nearly screamed again, "Are they dead?!"

The purple turtle quickly denied, "No, not that I can tell." Taking a moment to check for heart rate and breath, he confirmed, "Yeah, physically they're still okay."

Raphael snarled, almost foaming with rage, "Why this now?!!"

Leonardo quickly calmed down his hot-headed brother, "Raph, settle down. We'll . . .fix this, whatever is going on. Don, you're the medical expert of the family. What should we do?"

Sighing in frustration, Donnie suggested, "Make sure that their vitals don't drop. We probably should not restrain them if they start to convulse. For now, I guess we just keep them warm until they wake up."

For mammals, Splinter and Ninjara felt very, very cold.

-----

A foggy gray haze lifted from Splinter's eyes as he took some sort of consciousness. He shivered, fur nearly standing on ends. Taking his time, he tried to establish where he was, noticing he seemed to be suspended in air. Thick white webbing wrapped around his wrists, ankles, and torso, continuing along the walls in sinewy patterns. He could barely see past the wispy fibers, the dirt hallways clogged with the filmy webbing. The scent of dust and mud crept into his senses, wet with the tell-tale smell of contaminated water. 

Wrapping some of the thick fibers around his hands, Splinter gave the webbing a strong tug, hoping to pull himself loose from the mass of threads. Thorn-like extensions sprang out of the webbing, piercing his palms and arms. He bit back a cry of pain, quickly releasing the fibers. Physical force was not going to get him out of this mess. Scarlet blood slowed as the wounds began to clot and close in scabs. 

Splinter looked beneath his feet, noticing a fallen sword on the floor. He wondered if he cut himself loose, if he could reach it. Definitely not trying to move his limbs again, he carefully maneuvered his tail down to the floor. Of course, being just his luck, the sword was out of reach. He needed another way out, and quickly. Something told him that he did not want to find out what imprisoned him here.

Tiny grains of dirt trickled down on his nose, landing gently like raindrops. Looking above his head, Splinter notice that a hole began to open above his head, a small stream gently beginning to sprinkle down. His eyes blinked in confusion, watching as what seemed like the entire world came collapsing in on itself. The earth roof over his head began to break apart in giant chunks, crushing the webbing under its strength. With no chance to escape, the rubble came crashing down on the Sensei, burying him under soil, plant, and river.

The smallest flash of light that came in through the earthen roof quickly disappeared under an ocean of mud and dirt.

-----

Grabbing a fistful of goop off her face, Ninjara swore angrily. She quickly stood up, noticing she was knee-deep in mud. Her fur was an absolute disaster, drenched in muck. She took several deep breaths, hoping that would calm her intensifying rage. It didn't work, "GOD-DAMN IT!"

Taking another ball of mud out of the ground, she threw it into the distance, snarling with rage. It landed into the muddy pond with a satisfying splash, quickly sinking into the ground. As much as Ninjara liked that, she noticed something peculiar. There were several bubbles coming from underneath where it had landed, surfacing at an uneven rate. She waded through the muck to the strange bubbles, watching it with some uncertainty.

A muddy hand shot through the muck, grabbing her by the wrist. Almost freaking out, Ninjara pulled herself backwards through the mud, stumbling backwards. Landing next to her was another miserably messy furball, coughing up mud and gasping for air. She barely resisted the urge to laugh, glancing in disbelief at who she managed to pull out of the muck.

Wiping off a clump of mud from his forehead, Splinter sighed, "I thought I knew disgusting living in a sewer with four teenage boys."

Ninjara shook her head slowly in confusion, "Okay, what the crap?! You're here in whacko la-la land too?!"

The Sensei continued to clean himself off, speaking rather quickly, "I don't think we are alone, either. I was tied up by webbing when the roof collapsed. I don't see how we could have even gotten here unless . . ."

Ninjara finished his sentence, "Someone brought us here. Just like this morning, right?"

Splinter nodded, a pit growing in his stomach. He really wished that his sons were there with him. With a sudden unexplained fear making him queasy, the Sensei looked behind him, then questioned, "Do you have a spare weapon?"

The vixen nodded, rolling her eyes, "Of course. Katana work?"

Staring back at the monstrosity breathing down their backs, Splinter nodded, "If you are so generous."

-----

Leo closed his eyes for a moment, trying to focus. Through some low-level achievement of telepathy, sometimes he would be able to contact Splinter. There was no response, like a phone that was left off the hook. Grimacing and disheartened, Leonardo barely whispered through his teeth, "There's nothing."

Raphael looked at him cock-eyed, "What do you mean, there's nothing? Even when he's sleeping, he can hear us. There can't be **_nothing._**"

Leonardo shrugged, slowly unfolding himself from his lotus position. He didn't know how to explain what he felt, "It was like . . .nothing. An absence."

Sighing, Donatello snapped in some resentment, "It's way too peculiar. They're not dead, but they're sure as shell not responding. Even comatose people can communicate telepathically."

Casey, April, and Michaelangelo sat uncomfortably around the kitchen table, unsure how they could help the situation. The humans had no idea how to even begin harnessing their mental abilities in meditation like the turtles, and neither could figure out what was wrong with Ninjara and Splinter. Mikey, on the other hand, just wanted to stay out of the way of his brothers. He didn't know how he could help, like Raphael could with hauling them around or Don with his medical skills or Leo with his intense concentration. He almost felt as useless as he did that morning, with nothing to do but to comfort his brothers and his father.

Michaelangelo sighed, "There's nothing I can help you with, bros?"

Leonardo shook his head, "I don't think there's anything any of us can do. I feel so . . .defeated."

Mikey decided to give the consoling thing a shot again, "I kind of feel like I did this morning, you know, when we had that funky dream and I woke up almost being freaky snake food . . ." The turtle stopped his rambling, then asked, "Just like this morning?"

Don's brow lifted slightly, "Guys, anyone else getting a bad feeling about this?"

Without a moment of pause, Leonardo began commanding, "All right, guys, I'm going to try to search further out. I need you to be quiet." 

Nobody dared to breathe a hair too loud. The blue turtle closed his eyes again, focusing deeply within himself. He cleared his mind, searching through layer upon layer of the astral plane, keeping deathly silent. A warmth was summoning him; he was sure that he could sense his father. Continuing to draw closer to the warmth, he refined his senses to a sharp point. _I'm coming, guys . . .hold on . . ._

-----

Leonardo opened his eyes to find that he was no longer sitting in Casey's cluttered apartment. In fact, he didn't even think he was in New York, or on Earth even for that matter. He was sitting on a pile of dead grass, looking into a hole in the ground. The world around him seemed to flow into the emptiness like space into a black hole. Leaning over slightly to see what was down in the pit, the turtle took a sudden gasp of surprise.

Like something out of a hellish nightmare, one gargantuan beast stood in the middle of the mess and mud. There was no creature that Leonardo knew of that even relatively looked like it, except for maybe some kind of insect. Its massive head was equipped with mandibles like an ant, its maw at least as large as a mini-van. Two pincher-like claws extended from the creature's lean front arms, ending almost in mouser-shaped clamps. Its abdomen was swollen like an infected injury. The creature was supported by eight massive legs, all which ended in three sharp claws. Its skin was completely covered in brown-green plates, its back exoskeleton a translucent tan. It had to be something conceived out of a terrible nightmare.

Ninjara and Splinter stood barely millimeters out of the beast's reach, both armed with some form of a sword. Their fur was soaked in mud, brown ooze thickened by dirt. Both looked haggard, their forms slightly stooped in battle positions. Where the monster looked like it had been barely scratched, they had bruises and slashes in random spots, sometimes barely missing vitals organs. Leonardo almost buckled in terror; what would have happened if he had arrived too late?

"SENSEI!!", Leonardo hollered, hoping to get the rat's attention. Both Ninjara and Splinter looked at the turtle, confused and perplexed. Ninjara quickly signaled Leo over, "How in the hell did you end up here?"

Leonardo took a quick breath, then rashly explained, "My brothers and I thought that this seemed way too much like this morning's battle. I was able to get here through meditation. We've got to get out of here as fast as possible!"

"My son, how do we accomplish that?", Splinter was still muddled, "If this is just an illusion, it would be easy to dispel."

Leo bit his lip, then nodded, "You're right. In that case . . ." The turtle drew both his katanas, turning slowly towards the monster, "Let's kill this and get out of here."

Taking no time to prepare an attack, Splinter quickly withdrew Ninjara's katana. Swinging with agility, the Sensei was able to do little more than draw blood. Leonardo was taken aback, finally realizing he was in a bigger pile of cow pies than he had anticipated. Never-the-less, he kept his mind focused, summoning his strength from deep within himself. He leapt full-throttle at the mantis-like creature, both of his swords prepared for impact.

And missed.

With a sudden terrifying turn of events, things went from bad to worse. The monster chirped in amusement, snapping its massive clamp-like hands at his two assailants. Ninjara decided to hold off for the moment, a sixth sense telling her to stop. One snap of a claw hurdled into the ground, Leonardo evading the blow by centimeters. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, his heart beginning to pick up. His stomach churned as the other claw snatched his father from the ground, like a limp toy. Leonardo lost control, his soul vibrating with fear, "**SPLINTER!!**"

Intense pain shot through his shoulder blades and back like a strike of lightening. In poor reflex, Splinter dropped Ninjara's katana, landing in the sinking mire of mud. Keeping his mind calm, the Sensei suppressed his fears into a ball. He noticed a small relaxation in the mantis's grasp, just enough where he could get his good hand loose. The creature drew him threateningly close to its maw—but he was not going to give into fear.

Ripping through the insect's claws, Splinter jumped out into air, grabbing onto one of the creature's mandibles. His back was raked with fresh wounds from his escape, and he was determined to return the favor. The Sensei dug his fingernails into the creature's face, ripping away a chunk of exoskeleton. Rancid stench and olive-green goo flowed onto his hands, like melted syrup. Rearing in sudden fright, the mantis spattered an eerie screech. It was more than enough to hurt the Sensei's gentle ears, barely able to maintain his grip. The dragon-sized insect took such an opportunity to strike back, smaller mandibles clamping onto Splinter's body like a vice.

Drops of blood splattered into the brown mud, like so much water from a leaky faucet. 

Leonardo's eyes clouded with horror, unblinking with petrified terror. A nauseating feeling trembled through his legs and arms, his mind dizzy. He barely closed his eyes, forcing himself to concentrate, "It's not real, it's not real, it can't be real . . ." Opening his eyes again, he shrieked in rage as the mantis creature flung Splinter to the ground like a dirty newspaper. The rat did not move, breathing shallowly and moaning in pain.

Ninjara shook her head, growling impatiently, "Leonardo! Get your ass out there and kill that son of a bitch!" She picked her katana off the ground, guarding herself with her wakazashi. Almost flying like an elegant crane, she slashed into the hide of the mantis, screaming in anger and frustration. More green ooze spilled onto the battlefield, the creature screeching in pain. She was very satisfied with her work; of course, she never would let herself down.

Rage gathered inside of Leonardo's heart. He often times tried to block out anger, almost viewing it like a sin. This time, he let it flow into his brain and body, keeping it clear enough to strike. Screaming like an eagle on the hunt, the turtle raced across the battlefield. His feet barely touched the ground, leaving only imprints from where his toes had impacted the mud. Like a silver tide, Leonardo unleashed a wave of pain unto the mantis, yelling out his heart and soul.

The atrocious insect staggered, finding that it was missing two of its legs. Another fine line of ooze poured from its abdomen, bile and blood pooling underneath it. Leonardo's sudden ferocity had confused and terrified the creature, understanding now that it had greatly underestimated the foe. Taking a quick swing at Ninjara and the pesky turtle, it lost its balance and stumbled. It was barely able to keep upright on its remaining feet. That was all right with the mantis, though—it had a back-up plan.

Bright acid spewed forth from the insect's mouth, landing in globs around the murky field. One splash splattered against Leonardo's skin, leaving a sore burn in its wake. Ninjara was agile enough to evade the blasts, although her fur was singed. Both were discouraged, doubting how any sort of creature could have withstood such a beating and keep going. Ninjara questioned with an almost sarcastic ring to her voice, "Got a plan, fearless leader?"

Leonardo restrained hissing back, calmly stating, "No. You got an idea?"

Both were clue-less, but they figured the full-frontal onslaught was working. Preparing themselves for another charge at the beast, they didn't see the giant claw take a swipe at them. A blow painful as a meteor smashed into their chests, hurling them across the room as if they were weightless. Another burning smash against the walls came, furthering their despair. Leonardo tried to keep calm, but seeing the final punch coming towards them was enough. The turtle and the fox cried out, shielding their eyes, preparing for the end.

A clack of wood replaced what should have been their end.

Carefully opening his eyes, Leonardo watched in fascination as Splinter pulled him out of the mire. He had rearmed himself with a twig, but thankfully, it was strong enough to battle with. About ready to question Splinter's actions, the student was interrupted, "Help me." Without further comments or confusion, Leonardo rearmed himself, Ninjara following his actions. He felt refueled, ready to take on whatever was going to be thrown at him. He would not let his family down.

Everything happened in a blur. Leonardo knew that he had leapt into the air, could feel his swords slashing into something. Ninjara managed to hack off another chunk of the monster, dancing like reeds in the wind. Splinter wedged his weapon into a claw, driving it through like a nail. Ripping it out, he felt something like rain trickle on his head. He quickly looked upward, eyes huge with fright.

"Move!!", the Sensei hollered, diving out of the creature's range as fast as he could. Leonardo tumbled to the left, Ninjara evading him as she escaped. Like a disco ball crashing down, the head of the mantis separated from its shoulders. It slammed into the ground, barely inches away from Ninjara's feet. The body followed on, almost catching Splinter's tail in the wreckage. 

Leonardo lifted one brow, staring at his katana, "I have got to watch what I do when I attack with these things." 

-----

The master unfolded himself from his meditation, his head throbbing like it had been cut open. A dried up lotus and a broken tea cup lay next to him, dead resources used in his spell. He growled under his breath, knowing how close he had gotten to removing the fox, the rat, and the turtle. If he hated anything, he despised wasting materials on failed attacks.

He slyly smiled to himself, realizing that he still had time. Try again, fail again . . .fail better.

-----

Ninjara watched the ceiling as it became visible again. Grimacing in disgust, she murmured almost incoherently, "There's pizza stains on the ceiling . . ."

Raphael quickly came to her attention, scooping her off the floor and sitting her upright on the couch. Leonardo relaxed himself against the apartment walls, thankful that he had been able to stop whatever was happening. Opening one eye, he hissed in irritation as Michaelangelo wrapped one arm around him and his Sensei. The turtle was pretend-sobbing, "I thought you guys died!"

"Drama queen.", Donatello snickered, then turned his attention back to the others, "Are you guys all right?"

Leonardo bobbed his head, smiling, "Sore egos, and nothing more."

Splinter squirmed free of his son's tight grasp, almost laughing, "Isn't it past your bedtime?" Mike gave him one of those you've-got-to-be-kidding looks, shaking his head slowly. The rat nudged him, playing around his bandanna, "Come on, you've had a rough day."

Casey quickly butted into the conversation, leaning against the kitchen table, "Um, where are you guys thinking about sleeping?"

Donatello shrugged, "The floor works well for me."

The human dropped his jaw, "Who said you guys could sleep here?!"

April rolled her eyes, standing akimbo next to Casey, "Come on, be a pal? I wouldn't want them going back to the sewers. . .you know what could happen . . ." She seemed very evasive to bring up the morning's incident around Splinter, almost avoiding making eye-contact with him.

The vigilante wanted to argue, but it was beyond the point. No doubt the Turtles had helped him out more than he would ever want to admit, so perhaps he did owe them something. He gave in, "Fine. But don't wreck the place!"

"I think that's pretty much physically impossible.", Raphael snickered, flopping down onto the couch. Casey shot him one wry look, then entered his bedroom. Ninjara made herself comfortable next to Raph, Donatello lying down directly under them. Michaelangelo stole the recliner, leaning back as he tried to find a comfortable position to sleep in. April shook her head, laughed almost silently to herself, then snuck into another room to get some rest. Leonardo and Splinter shared a bean-bag chair like a pillow, both not staying conscious for more than a few moments.

Within five minutes, the entire apartment was silent, except for the television left on in Casey's bedroom. It was a day done, left to rot and die in whatever pain it had caused them.

-----

Author's Note:

Bad me, not getting this chapter up on time! Oh well. I hope you enjoyed it, at least. (And do tell me if you did.)

I've been practicing a new style to writing combat scenes in fan-fiction. Basically, I make up a bunch of Dungeons & Dragons characters and have them fight something. For example, the battle scene in this chapter had Leonardo as a Samurai, Splinter as a Monk/Rogue multi-class, and Ninjara as a Ranger/Rogue. All were level 7 and fought a beast called Yattako no Oni, which is listed in the D&D supplement Oriental Adventures. Boy, getting battles done has never been so fun!

Thanks for reading—see you in April! 

__


	8. He Shot Me Down

Chapter 8: He Shot Me Down

Ever wake up tired? Nothing is more terrible than the sensation of aching muscles in the morning, especially if you plan on doing something physical. Sometimes you wake up in this cold sweat, and the sheets stick to your skin. Nightmares are fears undiscovered—until you wake up, your heart racing, your mind screaming. It's the one pain that can always get under your skin because it knows you.

The master knew how to wield this fear as a double-bladed sword. Although it would leave his body empty, he could creep into even the most solid of minds and shatter their morale with a single strike. He could wrap his fingers around his enemy's throat, shake him like a dog with a newspaper, and drop him flat on his ass before he knew what had it. This is why he was leader of the Foot Mystic division in Japan. He was a merciless warlock and effectively deadly.

This morning, his mind throbbed with anger. He had remained awake through the night, like an owl. He had honed his mind, his prey highlighted in the shadows of the moonlight. His talons were drawn, his descent was smooth. In fact, the wu jen almost could feel the fox and the rat squirming in his grasp, tiny heartbeats jolting in terror. He did not expect to find such a warrior, never-the-less a pupil, able to disarm his deadly attacks.

Twice, to add insult to injury.

"Leonardo . . .", the warlock wrapped his tongue around that name. It was like a dirty word, a curse used to damn sinners to the depths of hell. All four students were potential threats to his work, but none so much as Leonardo. That creature had learned the secret of meditation, of reaching out to find his family on different planes. He was also amazing in combat, from what Hun had told Oruku Saki last night. Maybe even his employer was underestimating these creatures.

Speaking of the iron fist of the Foot, the Shredder was not in a pleasant mood. His usual cold behavior was tolerable, but this morning, he was like an icy lord. Even to Hun, Saki did not speak much. Maybe he was mad at the lack of success on all fronts. The warlock knew better than to confront his master at this time. It was better to let him come on his own way.

A new lotus blossom and more green tea sat in front of him. Planning to enter his trance again, the sorcerer closed his eyes and began to meditate deeply. He could feel the warrior pack's life throbbing like a sore thumb, noticing the weakening and rising currents of their energy. One was slowing again, probably going to rest for the remainder of the day.

Tsukano Tai-shen smiled. _Nemuru yoku, nezumi . . ._

-----

Sometimes, a warm bed and a safe home can come in a bean-bag chair and a messy apartment. A gentle scent of coffee and breakfast floated in Casey's home, easily masking the scent of decaying pizza and body odor. Steam rose from the bathroom; April was having her morning shower. Donatello sat cross-legged on the floor, chatting with some friend he had met over AIM, a coffee mug next to his left knee. Mikey and Casey were arm-wrestling at the kitchen table, the turtle continuously loosing. Raphael was still sleeping though the chaos, Ninjara sitting in the gap he left open on the sofa. Leonardo sat next to Splinter, both meditating quietly. The world was perfect.

"Damn, not again!", Michaelangelo cursed, "How do you keep winning?"

Casey snickered, replying, "How do you keep losing? That's the real question!"

Donatello looked up briefly from his conversation, then went back to typing. There was something he loved about communicating with other humans—maybe it was the raw emotion they displayed. Leonardo thought differently on the subject. He guessed that maybe Don liked some extra attention. He never really made a lot of noise or trouble at home, so he never really got reprimanded. Plus, going online is like shedding a skin. One day Donnie could be Sk00l4N/j/407, the next day CrypticCreeper, and who knows what next week.

Splinter started snoring next to Leo, his mediation position drooping. The turtle snorted, holding back his laughter. Who never said it was impossible to sleep sitting upright? Leonardo lightly poked the rat, "Sensei, you're falling asleep again." He woke up quickly, his face beaming red, "Gomen ne."

April reappeared from the shower, her red hair in a towel. She yawned, then crash onto the couch near Raphael, pushing him up. He growled in dismay, but abruptly went back to sleep. Sitting for a few more minutes in silence, she decided that she needed to start up some conversation, "So, Ninjara. How long has it been since you left the turtles?"

The fox-lady humored her, "Maybe six months. Decided to go underground for a little while, re-evaluate my position. I probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for rat-fink."

Raphael woke up again, a little groggy, "Wait, wait. He contacted you?"

"Yeah."

"Without technology?"

"Yeah."

"You mean, you take psychic phone calls?"

"Sure."

"Damn.", he crossed his arms, "You are good."

Donatello shut off his laptop, done with his chatting. He took a sip of coffee, letting the warm liquid roll down his throat and defrost him from the morning. Coffee was a divine gift from an outer-worldly power, as Donnie saw it. He had been trying to lay off coffee lately, since it made his head buzz, but he still needed a cup a day. Sometimes that extra energy got him through his late-night inventing sprees.

He tried planning his day out, "So, what are we going to do today?"

Leonardo shrugged, unfolding from his sitting position, "What I hope we do is find that . . .creature that attacked Splinter yesterday, and destroy it."

The rat was wide awake in seconds, his tail whipping past April's feet. He was almost frantic for a moment, "My son, no!" Leonardo was confused—why would he freak out so badly? "Splinter, it's nothing to be concerned about. Besides, we have to get it taken care of before it attacks humans."

"Plus, I don't know how well our lair's locked up.", Donatello added, "Leo did get the door, but if that snake followed your scent, it could have wrecked the lair."

Splinter couldn't explain the sudden terror in his heart. His face softened, eyes glancing at an invisible dot on the floor. He tried to find the emotion he was looking for, then landed on it. Swallowing, he shuddered, "What if it . . .attacks you?"

Raphael cackled, spinning a sai between his thumb and second finger, "We kill it. No biggie. Would you quit being such a geezer, already?"

April felt uncomfortable with the entire situation, "You're not planning on taking anyone else with you guys?"

Mikey interrupted, "Can I stay home? Please?" He was silenced by a menacing glare from Raphael, "Never mind." The red turtle store at Casey, asking him a silent question. The human shook his head, "Not today, bud. I've gotta work." April nodded, adding, "So do I."

Leonardo got this spark of ingenious thought that ran through his brain. Smiling almost fiendishly (as much as Leo could get), he grinned, "Great. That means Splinter can go with you."

"**WHAT?!**", April almost shrieked, then settled down, "I suppose he could sleep in the basement under the shop, but Leo . . ."

The blue turtle smiled again, his eyes like the stare of puppy dogs. April sighed, knowing she had lost. She shook her head, then signaled, "Come on, Splinter. I've got to open my shop in an hour, anyway. Might as well get going."

He nodded, glancing quickly back at Ninjara, "You will go with them, right?"

Ninjara rolled her head back, "Geez, you really are a geezer! Yeah, I'll go." Splinter sighed, feeling a little better. He followed April out of the apartment, sticking behind her like a puppy dog chasing after his master. Before he left, he shot a quick look at Leonardo that plainly spoke '_Come back home safe, please._' The turtle's eyes lifted slightly, assuring he would.

Casey yawned, slipping on his spring jacket. It was still cold outside, and even the meat-headed human knew better than to mess with weather. He yelled behind him as he staggered out the door, "Raph, lock up behind me."

He rolled his eyes, hollering, "Fine! But I'm taking an early breakfast!"

Nothing said breakfast to Raphael better than a sixth of a six pack.

-----

Ah, the sewers of New York. Nothing stinks so pleasantly to a turtle, considering it's his home. Even though yesterday's set of disasters, a part of Michaelangelo still wanted to come home, curl in his bed, and go to sleep. He was a firm believer in 'home is where the heart is'. If he had his way, he would have come home already—he wasn't afraid of any big bad snake!

. . .okay, yes he was.

Mikey whined, "Couldn't I have stayed with Splinter, Leo?"

His elder brother responded, "No. He's going to be all right. I think we've thrown the Foot off our tracks for a little while."

The orange turtle cringed, "Awww, come on! I don't wanna be Steve Irwin!"

Raphael sighed in repressed anger. He didn't understand why his brother had to whine about every little thing that was going wrong in their lives, but he was getting sick of it. Biting back rage, he hissed through his teeth, "Come on, you chicken. We have to take care of it before it hurts anyone else. It's part of our hero contract."

The four turtles and the fox marched through the sewers, all five in different moods. Donatello was surprisingly happy, despite the hell he had been dragged backwards through. Leo kept his mind open, leaning on his acute senses in case anything were to attack. Raphael's rage was growing, especially with Mikey pretending to be timid. As far as Ninjara went, she was ignoring them. She needed to focus on other things, not the random insanity of four brothers.

Going back down to their lair was uneventful. Mostly, Raphael made crude jokes—the ones that Splinter wouldn't ever let them tell, at least around him. Sometimes you hit a point where humor gets to be more painful that funny. A couple of ominous signs laid around their feet, dead rats and blood splatters occasionally on the floor. One look at them sent shivers trembling down Leonardo's spine. He couldn't help but feel some guilt and remorse. His personal task, as he saw it, was to protect his family from the big creepies and things that go bump in the night. Failure wasn't anything he liked to admit.

Soon enough, they reached the lair. Donnie unlocked the door within a couple of seconds, most of his security measures left unattended. Inside, the place was still quiet and peaceful, like it had been before. Only a few jarring details disrupted the aura of calm. Blood was left in splotches on the floor, more of it soaked into the couch. Michaelangelo almost felt nauseous, looking in horror at the aftermath of their lair.

Ninjara shook her head, "You're going to have to get rid of that couch."

She took a closer look into the couch's fabric, noticing where the stains were more prominent. Touching it, she could still feel a slight dampness where it was. Her eyes softened, a small part of her finally realizing the boys' terror. This was worse than she had been explained.

Raph growled impatiently, "Yeah, I'll go find another one. There's this one warehouse above us that's got all sorts of old furniture. Probably will steal one of those."

"Good idea.", Leonardo nodded, "Mikey, you and Ninjara can break it up so we can dispose of it easier. Don and I will check all the rooms around here to make sure nothing got into our lair."

Despite its sentimental and terrifying presence, Ninjara could help but have a sudden urge to help destroy the couch. If helping someone out is hacking an old bloody sofa into pieces, then she would start community service. Mikey assisted her, bashing it down with his heels. Somehow, dismantling the damn thing was helping him overcome his fears. If he could remove his moment of weakness, then he couldn't feel sick anymore.

But, he still couldn't forgot the ways those almond-brown eyes had pierced his heart and ripped apart his soul.

"Hey, you going to be okay?", Ninjara stopped for a moment, studying her assistant. Michaelangelo smiled weakly, then continued on with his work, "Yeah. It's going to take a little time, though."

Donatello sashayed into his room, his mind in a better place. He was often in the clouds mentally, mainly because it helped him keep happy. Coming into his room, however, caused him to come crashing down back to reality within a heartbeat. His room lay in disorder, his futon and blankets nearly torn apart. With a sudden terror, he jumped back out of his room, locking the door behind him. He tried catching his breath, but it seemed to be just out of his reach.

Leonardo jumped up next to his brother, his eyes concerned, "What is it, Don?"

The younger looked up, barely having the nerve to whisper, "The snake knows where Splinter was."

Leo was confused, "How do you know?"

With his voice barely audible, Donnie murmured, "It made my room into a nest."

-----

April O' Neil locked the door to the basement, her heart surprisingly joyful. She had opened her store up minutes ago, only stopping for a moment to check on Splinter. The rat had made himself at home, finding the most beat-up couch she had down there and crashing to sleep. There was a part of her that saw him as much as a kid as his sons. Maybe all those years together made them all youthful at heart.

She started to move stuff around the antique shop again. After the Shredder had blown her store sky-high, she had put a lot of time and money into restoring it. For the most part, she had the back-breaking work done—exploiting the male side of the species had its advantages. She was just arranging smaller china pieces on shelves, perfecting what was left. It wasn't going to be much longer until she was ready to re-open her shop once more.

Surprisingly, April had been able to collect some more knickknacks while her shop was out of commission. She had found some old sheet music and some ceramic ornaments from what her dad had left her before he died. She also had looked around in some out of town markets, picking up things that she thought would attract some customers. She had even found an old katana set, which she thought she should show to Leonardo sometime. He would appreciate that.

April finished place the final figurine on the shelf, a small ceramic penguin with a little red-and-white umbrella. Smiling, she turned around to see that someone had entered her shop. She jumped in surprise; why didn't she hear her small door chime when he had entered? There was something almost unnerving about this man, but she could quite but her finger on it. He looked . . .different . . .

The man in front of her was short, a thin mustache and beard trailing down his face in black threads. He was stout, probably twenty to fifty pounds overweight for someone his size. A dark menace lingered in his slanted eyes, something almost foreign and yet similar to her. He also dressed oddly, green-and-blue robes flowing down to his feet. She didn't know quite what to think of him.

"Can I . . .help you?", she asked cautiously.

The man smiled, almost like a guilty cat, "I need you to answer some questions for me, Miss O' Neil."

April didn't like where this was going, "How do you know my name?"

His smile widened, "I know many things about you. But, I need you to get me something very important to me."

She nodded, letting him continue, "You see, I am a collector of old Japanese swords—katanas, wakazashi, dai-katanas, ninja-tos, the like. I heard that you had a katana set from a friend of mine, and I was wondering what you would like me to pay for it."

April nearly shivered. She hadn't told anyone about it, not even Casey. How did this guy know her so well? She simpered, hesitantly questioning, "Well, I was thinking about selling to a friend, but we could talk."

"I like the sound of that, Miss O' Neil.", the strange man nodded, his face beaming, "Let's make a deal."

-----

Sometimes the only way to get sleep is to beat yourself down until you are dead tired. Of course, if someone else provides the beating, it'll probably sting more than you could have expected. Splinter was finally regretting fighting last night against the Foot Ninja, his sides burning with pain again. Even a glancing touch sent his wounds into a flaming rage, which made sleeping a balancing act. After April took her lunch break, he would see if she would give him some sort of medication. He knew very briefly about what he was allergic to, so he could avoid some major reactions.

Lying in the dark basement made him feel almost at home. The walls were covered with wood paneling, the floor with a shag carpet of some sort. Boxes still laid scattered across the room, going back out into the hallway next to the stairs. A floor lamp sat next to the beat-up couch he slept on, electronically splashing the room in its radiance. The only thing that could make him feel totally safe would be if his sons were here with April. He didn't expect them to tag along with him like ducklings, but he didn't like sending them out into the world without him being there for them.

Within a few minutes, the world became warm and dark. No images played in Splinter's mind, not even any shade of fear, joy, hope, or sorrow. It was just a plain, relaxing state of mind, almost relishing in the fact that for a select few minutes it was safe to live. He used to feel this way constantly before his master Yoshi was slain—it was a rare experience to feel safe.

_Do you still cry for him?_

Splinter winced in fear. His mind had come to a sharpened sense of consciousness, but he knew he wasn't awake. He had seemed to materialize in thick darkness, his body floating in the absence of gravity. Unfolding himself, he sat upright to fully grasp what was still going on. Channeling a little bit of energy, he asked, _What?_

I said, do you still cry for him?

The Sensei didn't want to respond, holding back his words until whoever was talking to him showed his face. The being laughed, appearing as a strange white mask. Its face changed to the classic drama tragic cry, questioning again, _Does it burn you in the night? Do you become swallowed by the river of pain it leaves in your soul? . . .I can see it left a deep scar._

This is enough!, Splinter barked, almost ripped open by anger, _Who are you, and why have you come? To assault me?_

The mask morphed, its expression locked in an absurd laugh, _Again, you mean? Maybe not physically . . ._

Splinter tried staring into the black holes of the mask that were eyes, trying to find something. He shook his head, _If you have done any harm to my sons . . . ._

Your charges are safe, for the moment., the strange being interrupted, menacingly snickering, _This is just between me and you, rat._

Splinter tried to stand up in the darkness, finding that he couldn't escape the strange place. He growled under his breath, wondering why he couldn't wake up. Snapping his tail like a whip, he snarled, _What are you? A demon?_

Sort of. More like a warlock, really.,the mask changed again, studying Splinter with its black holes for eyes, _I had one of my pupils enter my body this morning to find you. He has done well, I believe. All I want to do is to find out about **you**._

It continued, shifting closer to the Sensei, _The Shredder, he hired me to do his bidding. He wants me to kill you—and your sons, of course. Five needles, that is what your family is. I should have had you killed with my first attack, if not for the other four. You keep surviving—how?_

Splinter shook his head, confused slightly, _Survival is a matter of luck and wits. We only combat with wits. Luck comes with practice._

You know, if I didn't know about your personality, I would almost say you're being a smart-ass., the mask sneered, its black eyes licked with angry flame. It began to grow hands from the sides of its face, detaching within seconds. The wizard's puppet began to mock, _Now, I was hoping I really wouldn't have to do this, but you've really left me with no choice. I'll have to extract what I want from you, I guess . . . Unless you wish to speak freely._

Splinter maintained his silence, never letting his guard down for a second, _Try it. That's the only way you'd ever get any help from me._

The mask became aloof, _Very well, then. Never let it be said that I didn't warn you._

The rat shrieked in fear as the two hands engulfed him, his eyes large with sudden unexplainable fright. He watched as his life literally flashed in front of him, pulled like a bizarre reel around his body and through the darkness.

-----

Donatello slunk to the floor, lying against his door. Leonardo tried helping his brother to cope with the sudden shock of finding a clutch of little beasts in his room, but even the fearless leader was confused as to what he was supposed to do. He tried comforting Don, "It's all right. It's just eggs."

"What if someone else knows we're here, like the Foot clan?", Donnie was almost shaken, "Where are we going to get lucky enough to find another home?"

Raphael jumped up next to his brothers, uninformed about what had just been discovered, "Hey, what's up?"

Leo shook his head, mumbling, "Don found a bunch of large eggs in his room. We think it might have come from the snake . . .maybe."

The red-banded brother cocked his brow, standing akimbo, "So what? Make it a omelet."

His elder brother shook his head, "It's not that simple, Raph. We've not even seen any clues to even begin to explain what's going on. For all we know, the real snake could be dead and these could be cloned offspring from Baxter Stockman's lab." Mikey and Ninjara joined in on the conversation, the turtle sticking his tongue out, "Yeah right! That's a little too far-fetched, Leo."

Raphael snickered, "Even for you, Mike?"

Donatello nodded, finally clearing his head, "You guys are right. Let's get rid of those things, then tell Splinter. He'll want to know."

Leonardo agreed, relieved that Don was feeling less shaky, "All right, that's a good idea. I'll help you out."

Both turtles turned to face the door, entering with a small bit of caution. The leathery eggs still laid in the center of Don's bed, almost unsuspecting of their cruel fate. Although he tried to block out his emotions, Leonardo did pity the creatures. He was a freak, just like them. They were closer in blood that he would ever be to April, Casey, or even Splinter. This was like murdering family. Never-the-less, he drew his katana up to eye level.

And he dropped it.

-----

Splinter collapsed in the thick black atmosphere, catching his breath. A million forgotten injuries zipped across his body, bleeding and healing within seconds. He coughed up blood, wiping it away from his mouth. Staring straight into the black holes of the mask that towered over him, he snarled deep in his throat. If any mortal ever caught a look into those angry amber eyes, their soul would be pierce with a thousand stings.

And yet, the warlock's beast laughed at the rat, _If you would have cooperated, we could have avoided that entirely._

You mean to cause harm to my sons., Splinter spat, his thin whiskers twitching, _I would die to protect them._

The mask shifted again, its face almost glowing with amusement, _It's a good thing we didn't have to come to that, isn't it?_

Splinter lowered his eyes, avoiding to intimidate his foe any further. He felt too weak to try to fight off his assailant anymore, a numbing paralysis settling in where the pain was before. The warlock's puppet began to scan through the information in front of its face, occasionally contorting to match the events he was scanning through. It seemed almost amused, like if it were reading some kind of novel. Sometimes, it would study the rat as it continued to flip through his life, smiling calmly with pleasure.

The warlock's mask questioned him, _Are you this?_

Am I what?, Splinter snapped, his patience gone.

The mask rotated in the air, analyzing the Sensei again, _Are you this complicated? Do you have these feelings, memories, pains? Is your soul human?_

Distressed and weary, the rat sighed, _I've had many problems. So have my sons. So do humans. Maybe **we **possess human qualities. Maybe humans have animal traits. It's just the way we are._

For a few moments, the mask seemed to be confused, studying the creature at his disposal like a scientist. He wasn't cracking like most of his victims would. In fact, despite his outward appearance, he seemed to be fortifying his mind stronger than before. The warlock was pleased—it had been some time since he had such a challenging advisory.

The mask smiled again, _You and your sons are extraordinary. I will leave you to your sleep, and your friend upstairs alone. For now, I have what I want._

He paused, almost expecting the rat to bark at him again. Splinter remained silent, murmuring, _My mind has betrayed my family._

For one last time, the warlock felt a sensation of pleasure. He left the shaken rat with only one comment, _So it does still burn._

Yes. Everyday.

-----

April was having troubles pleasing her customer. He seemed to want some odd object one second, then the next find something more fascinating. Worse, he wanted to know every little thing about the piece of junk—where she found it, how much it cost, what it meant to her even! She was getting sick of it, but she kept herself cool. The customer is always right, right?

Just as she thought the man would never leave, he turned to her, "Thank you for all your help. I am endlessly fascinated by antiques."

She sighed, looking at the clock. Yeah, for an hour of her time, he had better well appreciate it! She showed no sign of anger, pushing one of her locks of hair back behind her ear, "It was nothing. I suppose I couldn't get you anything today? Maybe that Katana set you were looking at?"

The odd round man shook his head, "No, I think I'll let you sell it to your friend. Family and friends first!" He began to waddle out the door, humming some strange tune to himself. He left with a simple thank you, walking out of her shop and hopefully her life.

Sighing again, April looked around the shop. It was pretty dull and empty, now with her customer gone. Finding nothing to really amuse her, April decided to check on Splinter. He might not be the best of company, but at least he was warm to her and more importantly quiet.

April walked down the stairs in the back of her shop, flipping the hallway light on as she descended. As much as she tried to be quiet, she stumbled over several cardboard boxes. She cursed at them for a second, then kept checking that everything in the basement was in order. It was rather cool, but also peaceful. She wouldn't be opposed to closing her shop up and sleeping if she didn't need the money.

She checked into the room where Splinter was sleeping, trying to keep silent. She didn't know if she could really sneak up on a Ninja, and she wasn't one to press fate. Thankfully, he was still asleep, fur messed into a sweaty tangle. April couldn't help but smile a little bit; maybe it was the estrogen messing with her head, but she felt like she had some sort of treasure lying in her basement. Thinking about the teenage boys still tearing around in the sewers, she sighed in joy again. They had all been so nice to her. It was a debt she didn't know if she could ever repay.

What the hell. For once in her life, April felt being just a little spontaneous. Running back upstairs, she quickly locked up her shop. She slipped back into the junk room, finding a spare blanket and a semi-usable recliner. She slithered softly into it, kicking up the footstool and wrapping her blanket around her. The best thing about home-owned businesses—she didn't have to necessarily stick to a singular schedule.

For that moment in time, heaven to April O' Neil was a retro basement, a good friend, and a nap.

-----

Casey Jones arrived at April's apartment about noon, carrying a stack of pizza boxes under his arm. It was almost surprising how much pizza four teenage boys could go through! The turtles had already arrived back, letting themselves in through a loose window in the first floor. Raphael unlocked the door for him, not without a little bit of taunting first. He stole the pizza from Casey, rushing up the stairs, "I've got food!"

Michaelangelo cried down, "Thank god, I was starving to death!"

Casey shook his head, mildly confused and irritated by the thieves. His attitude improved when a female hand slid around his waste, grabbing him by his belt. He smiled slyly, "I take it you've had a good day so far, April?"

"Yeah.", she smiled, "I decided to shut the store down for today. I'm tired as it is."

Casey liked this new look April was taking on life. She always was so hard on herself, and she finally took a personal day? Maybe he was having some good influence on her. Of course, as much as he didn't want to admit it, she had changed him more than he had her. Who would have ever thought that Casey Jones would know how to clean a bathroom?

Jones cocked his head, smirking, "So, where's rat-fink?"

April rolled her eyes, "Where do you think?" She lightened up, feeling totally calm, "He's been sleeping downstairs all day. First time I've seen any of them pull that off—they're all busybodies."

"And what's wrong with that?", Leonardo asked, ducking his head down the stairs, "Are you going to come eat with us or keep smooching?"

Casey flushed red, first embarrassed, then angered, "I've got something you can kiss!"

The turtle stuck out his tongue playfully, catapulting himself back up into April's apartment, "Mmm, mmm! Pepperoni!"

He almost charged after the teenager, trying to scare him off. April sighed in weariness, holding him back. Casey decided to lighten up, walking up the stairs with O' Neil like an escort. Something about this felt right to the both of them, like it was meant to be.

Even mentioning marriage made Casey Jones shudder in terror.

------

Tai-Shen looked out over New York City from the Shredder's glass paneling. He admired all the life in the streets, smiling as he watched several cars race to work or home. All these lives, all interacting with each other, never fully understanding their purpose. Sometimes, these people would waste their lives on frivolous matters, never knowing what they could achieve. He was glad that he always met his goals, always got what he wanted with some effort. For the warlock, life without challenge really wasn't life.

Oruku Saki gazed over the mage's shoulder, pleased in his new employee's work. His counterpart in Japan had done well to send him—not only had he shaken the foundation of peace the turtles were living in, he gave them soul bruises and scars to match. In time, he would get what he wanted from the wizard, and that was all he asked. Speediness did not always work with spell-casters.

Saki sneered out the window, "It's so much waste, isn't it?"

Tai-Shen agreed, "If they would only find their purpose."

The Shredder lifted his eyes, "Their purpose with us, with our powers."

The warlock crossed his arms, "Taking a city is one thing. Swallowing the world is another."

Saki nodded, "I know. But I have all the time in the world."

Hun entered the dojo, his attitude improved. Oruku greeted his lackey warmly, his eyes gleaming expectedly. Hun smiled slowly, nodding in confirmation. Whatever Saki wanted, he would execute. Sometimes, it had to be people.

"You both have served me well.", the Shredder was pleased, "Assassinating that woman got rid of loose ends, and the information that Tai-Shen provided me with should help us get under the rat's skin fast."

The warlock seemed mildly confused, but entertained, "I could have done the same with the turtles. But, whatever you wish, my lord."

Saki tilted his head, staring slightly into the sun, "To destroy them means more than just merely cutting their heads off. You must rip out their hearts—their friends and family must perish along with them. Besides, Stockman has provided them with a minor threat. They will know we're watching them."

Hun turned to face Oruku Saki, "So, what do we do know?"

The master paused, looking out over his kingdom. He could almost sense the vile reptiles, their human allies, their vermin father. It polluted his mind like a steel factory. There were many rash things that the Shredder wished to pursue, but he decided to hold them off. Logic must come before feeling in all things.

"We wait. Let them recuperate.", the Shredder murmured, "Then, we rid them of the world."

Tai-Shen questioned, "Suru watashitachi tasu no nezumi korosu ka?"

For a moment, the dojo was silent. The Shredder liked this way of thinking, "Hai."

He did have many vermin to kill, indeed.

----

Author's Note:

Yeah, I should be condemned for not posting this earlier. May 13! What was I thinking?!!

The plot was hard to come up with for this chapter. Tried to wind it down a little bit, but still make it intense. Next time should be more with the slashing, though.

If you haven't seen Kill Bill yet, I recommend you do so. Sure, it's a gore-fest, but it's all in good fun. I got the title for this chapter from one of the songs in the movie—by Nancy Sinatra. Man, my mom had the song on a record! That was trippy.

So, TTFN, hope to see you soon. R&R, pweeese? J The peoples like it when you review!


	9. Two Steps Foreward

Chapter 9: Two Steps Forward . . .

Trouble is an amazing thing. Give it enough time, and it will always find its way back to you. Sure, there are ways you can stall it, but eventually, you always find yourself neck-deep in it. It's like a hell hound that just won't leave anyone alone. However, sometimes you can anticipate its arrival and get rid of it as soon as possible too. It all depends on how you react to it.

Donatello found it perplexing that for the last two weeks of his life, no one had come to attack his family. His brothers had surveyed the sewers for several days, but found no other weird snake appearances, in their quarters or otherwise. They didn't dare to go home yet, unsure if the Foot Clan knew their location. Besides, as far as they were concerned, they didn't mind living in April's basement.

The turtles had made their own ways of entertaining themselves around April's apartment building. Leonardo spent most of his time with Splinter, checking on how he was healing and learning some new meditation abilities. Raphael wasted a lot of the time out surveying the town with Ninjara or Casey, depending on who was available at the time. Mikey kept himself occupied by assisting April with her shop, setting up heavier objects and helping her find more antiques to sell. Don seemed to always have something else to attend to, usually tagging along with whoever needed him at the moment.

Splinter was recuperating fairly quickly, at least compared to humans. He had gotten rid of the bandages around his shoulder and chest nearly a week after the incident, irritated at how they got in the way during katas. The four brothers were slightly surprised at how fast he went back to training them. They had set up a small dojo area in one of the basement rooms, borrowing worn-down mattresses from April's junk for padding. Most of their training was concerned with dodging and evasive maneuvers, to get them back on their feet after only a few days off. Leonardo had been skeptical about Splinter wanting to head straight back into combat, so the rat had met him half-way.

Today, though, he was going to try something different.

The four brothers sat cross-legged in the junk dojo, waiting for Splinter to begin his lesson. Ninjara had joined them for kicks, finding that she had nothing else to do. Sometimes life can get boring for a fox if she can't find anything to do—sadly enough, stealing socks became an adventure. April was busy upstairs, busy with customers, so she told them to keep as quiet as possible. Casey was gone at work again, although he did want to join Raphael sometime for a quick attack or two.

Leonardo almost freaked out as Splinter came in, a new wooden beam in his hand, "Sensei, you're not going to . . ."

"Yes, I'm going to.", the rat smiled coyly, "I've let you boys have it too easy for the last couple of weeks. Besides, I need the exercise."

Ninjara crossed her arms, standing up and shrugging. What the hell, she felt like a good fight was just what she needed. Donatello sighed, then stood up with her, bo staff drawn. Raphael snickered at the look of horror on Leonardo's face, yanking Michaelangelo up simultaneously. Leo shook his head, unsheathing his katanas as he prepared for whatever his old man was going to throw at him.

Michaelangelo shrugged in confusion, "So, what are we learning today?" He twirled one of his nunchakus in a slow fashion, almost like a wagging tail. He anticipated some sort of surprise attack, almost studying Splinter's eyes, looking for some flicker of change. His pupils widened, but Mikey was still too slow to fully guess where his father was going to strike. Nearly a quarter of a second later, the befuddled turtle found himself on the floor, his ankles slightly buzzing with pain. Despite his slip-up, he had to laugh, "Right. Test day."

Donatello was the next one to move, this time learning from his brother's mistakes. He deflected Splinter's cane with one end of his bo staff, following up with a quick bash into the Sensei's shoulder. Both went rolling to the ground, springing back to their feet like agile cats. The turtle noticed another opening in the rat's defenses and pounced on it, slipping his staff under the cane and grabbing onto the opposite end. With a quick twist, he disarmed Splinter, the small wooden jo staff clanking as it hit the ground. However, he lost control of his bo, almost dropping it. That was just enough time for Splinter to tackle Don, pinning him to the floor with the entire left side of his body.

Don sighed, "Let me guess. I got surprised by myself?"

Splinter laughed, letting his son go, "You need to have a little more faith in yourself. You can do great things."

"I wish I could always believe that.", Donnie shook his head as he let Leonardo have the next match.

Leo allowed Splinter to rearm himself, then positioned himself for a defensive maneuver, not even bothering to draw his katanas. The rat held back for a moment, watching to see what his son learned. A flash of metal lightening proved to be his skill, the next turtle lashing out in a classic Iaijustu slash. Only swift reflexes saved Splinter from taking the full brunt of the assault, his staff taking most of the damage. However, Leonardo had driven the katanas in so deep that the wood nearly split in two.

Not suppressing himself anymore, the Sensei snuck under Leonardo's blades, clutching onto his arms. With a sudden yip of surprise, Leo rolled to the ground, quickly sheathing his swords and prying himself away from the rat. Both scrambled to rearm themselves, jumping back on their feet simultaneously. They had their weapons out at the exact same time, even launching counters at each other before anyone in the room could understand what they were seeing. Leonardo lowered his swords, rushing in at top speed.

Slashing into the air, Leonardo felt something wrong as his katanas went through nothing. He felt his body being hurled backwards, slamming onto the ground before he could find his enemy. The blow winded him, his body quivering with adrenaline. Splinter helped him sit upright, waiting for him to catch his breath again.

"I didn't see you coming.", Leonardo had to chuckle a little bit, coughing, "What happened?"

Michaelangelo stuck out his tongue, snickering, "Kinda hard not to see furball coming at you."

Splinter scratched his head, almost embarrassed by Mikey, "You didn't expect unorthodox tactics."

Raphael started laughing, his eyes dancing with enjoyment, "Cookie cutter."

Leo shot him a look, then tried to understand, "I don't get it. I've never seen you **not** be there. What did you do?"

The Sensei shrugged, still sheepish, "I changed my mind. Decided to go for your legs."

For a moment, the turtle still didn't understand his lesson. Something clicked though, as he observed Raphael, "Okay. I get it. Don't always fight by the textbook."

"You learn well, my son.", Splinter nodded, letting him stand up on his feet, "It was a valiant attempt, though. One suggestion?"

"Go for it."

"Listen to your heart. It was right."

-----

April O' Neil heard something crash in the basement. Most likely it was one of the turtles. Even if they were supposed to be masters of stealth, they made more noise that Casey did when they weren't paying attention. She thought she heard laughing too, which made her feel a little lonely. It wasn't her idea of a good time to always dedicate herself to working.

Checking the time, she felt even more desperate. It was almost ten—she had barely been working for an hour. There were things she loved and hated about this job, and right now she could only think of the things she hated. Worse, it was a Thursday, and barely anyone came in on Thursdays! It made her so irritated to be so alone, but she couldn't ask the boys to be with her while she had nothing to do. Other humans would freak out if they ever saw them.

She decided to scan the newspaper. It wasn't like she had anything else to do. Most of the articles were on stock reports, weather, and usual business affairs. Sighing, she flipped the paper to the crime pages, hoping to catch something unusual. She got what she wanted and a little more.

In bright bold letters read the headline, "**MURDER SUSPECT FOUND DEAD IN DUMPSTER**." She was mildly confused, reading a little further down. It seemed like a familiar case to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Then, with a sudden fear, she read the last sentence in the article, finally putting everything into perspective, "Current leads suggest that Ms. Menendez of Southern California was murdered by a local gang leader known only as Hun. Investigation follows."

As far as April knew, the entire ordeal with Dr. Swartz and his murder was put behind the turtles, since they knew they couldn't do much outside of assist the police with cryptic clues. Now, this news, his murderess--found dead! Not just dead, she analyzed, but dead by the hands of one of the boys' top enemies! They had to know about this right away!

She quickly locked the doors to her shop, flipped the sign on her door to 'Sorry-Closed!', and ran down the stairs.

-----

Ninjara crept slowly around Splinter, both moving with delicate planning and hesitation. It was like watching a bizarre pantomime, both of their weapons held at nearly the same angles. Then, with a sleek smile, the fox leapt into combat, a sort of cocky self-esteem flashing in her eyes. The rat dodge her katana, catching her wakazashi with the end of his cane. Both prepared to strike again when someone came hurdling down the stairs with lightening speed.

"You guys!", April panted as she ran into the junk dojo, "You're not going to believe this!"

Raphael shrugged, his fists resting on his hips, "Try me."

"All right.", she settled down, taking a deep breath, "You remember Carmencita?"

Mikey punned, "Psycho bitch-bag?" Splinter shot him a quick look, the turtle raising his brow slightly, "Oh, sorry. My bad."

April nodded, then showed them the paper article. Leonardo grimaced in surprise as he store into the article, reading every little paragraph like it was vital evidence. Of course, Leo wanted the woman caught for what she did to the Swartz family, but murdered was a different story. Apparently the cops hadn't even found her body until some garbage men found her on their routes. She could have been dead for as long as two weeks!

"Eww.", Donnie felt woozy, "That's got to be one nasty smelling dumpster."

Raphael crossed his arms, noticing the peculiar ending, "Well, well. If our buddy Hun didn't have something to do with this!"

Ninjara snorted, guessing, "The Shredder probably wanted her dead, right? Monkey say, monkey do?"

Splinter looked unnerved at the sudden change in their predicament, "She probably didn't stand a chance against Hun." He turned his attention to April, a sudden pit in his stomach growing. April could very well be hurt by giving him such hospitality—how many times had he and his sons put her life on the line? He couldn't let her be unprotected.

"That settles it.", Splinter hissed, "Miss O' Neil, do you still have that Katana set?"

She seemed to be confused, "Yes, why?"

The rat smiled, an almost innocent aura floating in his eyes, "It's time for you to learn a little bit about ninjistu."

The four brothers were shocked, almost amazed. Leonardo couldn't believe his ears; he liked April as much as the next guy, but teach her swords?! Raphael was amused by this idea, thinking that he could use another sparring buddy. Donnie was uncertain on what to think, but he guessed it would be better for her to learn than to be totally defenseless. Mikey was totally floored by the entire idea, but he thought it was cool.

April quickly fetched the swords, lying them out on the floor. Leo checked out the blades, noticing that they had practically no wear on them. He wasn't sure that it was pre-WWII weapons, but they were good enough for combat. He nodded, giving O' Neil the set back, "It'll work."

Leo sat down with her, trying to guess which sword would work the best for her to practice with. He decided that the katana would be the best, then maybe let her use the wakazashi if that didn't work out. The dai-katana was out of the question—it was too large for her. Crossing his arms, he questioned, "Sensei, would you mind if I taught April?"

Splinter was mildly surprised, but he liked the idea, "That sounds good. Be patient and gentle with her, my son."

Mikey rolled his eyes, "Jeez, he's teaching her how to use a katana, not how to dance!"

April felt embarrassed, rubbing the back of her neck. She took the katana from Leonardo, standing up again. He got rid of one of his katanas, to help make her training a little bit more fair. Splinter beckoned for his other three sons to sit with him and watch Leonardo teach April. The turtle seemed almost nervous about his decision, but was met with a bright smile from her. He only had to teach her how to use a stupid sword; why did he feel uncomfortable?

"First off, you're holding it wrong.", Leonardo began, hoping he was doing it right, "You want your dominate hand to hold the front of the hilt, and have your other hand support it." April mimicked his position as best as she could, keeping her cool. He nodded to signal she was correct, then moved into an attack pose, "Right. And, when you want to attack, make sure your body isn't going to lose its balance. From there on out, it's pretty much learning how and when to swing the blade."

April questioned, "Okay. Let's try that."

For the first few minutes, Leonardo had to hold himself back. She wasn't quite self-assured on what she was doing, so he had to help her build up her confidence. He almost forgot on how terrified he was when Splinter was first teaching him how to wield katanas. Knowing what it felt like, he slowly helped her work into a faster pace, attacking with only basic parries. April mirrored him with defensive moves, almost using the katana like a thin shield. It surprised Leo when she finally got the courage to move into offensive attacks.

Her melee attacks were a little bizarre compared to what he was used to, but it wasn't the worst. Most of her swings didn't even connect with his sword, but were almost like a sort of feint. He noticed that she kept trying to move closer to him, striking out with her heels when she really wanted to attack. A couple of times she actually connected with his toes, but he was able to bite his way through the pain. The technique might work against some of the Foot members, especially those less experienced. There was no way she was even going to be coming close to even defending herself against Hun, though.

"Leo," April sighed, slightly letting up, "I don't think I'm doing this quite like you."

Leonardo chuckled, trying to keep her spirits lifted, "I've had a lot more training than you. It's going to take some time."

She nodded, then suddenly did something Leo did not expected. Stepping off to his left side, she swung heavily, nicking the side of his elbow pad. A small cotton fluff flew out of the pad, landing softly like a feather. Leonardo was impressed, to say the least. Most Foot Ninja didn't wear padding on their elbows, and if she could attack there again, she could probably cause some considerable damage.

Leonardo congratulated her, "Nice work."

April laughed, almost a little timid, "Well, I thought it was better than trying to go face-to-face with you."

He was confused, "What do you mean?"

"Well," she began to explain, "I figure that you know so many moves to block me that it's useless to try to attack you straight-on. So, I moved a little to the left, and that seemed to work."

Great, she was beginning to think in combat! Still maybe not good enough to fight on her own, but it was better than knowing she was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. She might even prove useful for defending them—definitely not attacking, though. She needed more practice, but she was getting better.

"All right, then," Leonardo withdrew his katana, "I think we'll work on this later. Don't you have a store to run?"

April seemed a little sheepish, absently nodding, "Yeah. You're right. I should re-open the shop." She did have to giggle, "But, you will help me after work's over, right?"

Leonardo smiled, "Of course. Five, then?"

The red-head beamed, "Sure. Five it is."

-----

A dark man stood in front of his window, peering out into the world like a witch scrying her crystal ball. There was hardly anything magical about New York, but it was almost like a place of myth. Instead of dragons and princesses, there were lawyers and teenage mall rats. The scenery was anything but majestic, and yet it had its own sort of foreign beauty. Metal towers gleamed in the sunset, bringing night to the city of New York.

Maybe that's why the Shredder envied humans so. Maybe he was jealous, that for all their inferior knowledge and quarreling, they had built a society that no other had ever created. They had peace so tangible that it was evident in even the most unstable of homes. Every place in this city had a sort of security knowing that there were laws and justice, someone that would always try to be the good guy and set things straight. Perhaps that was why Shredder hated humans so most—so many were trying to be good and pure. They were creatures that wasted their lives contemplating mortality and what was right.

"My lord.", Hun came to address him, "You requested my presence?"

Saki nodded, still staring into the sunlit skyline, "Yes. I wish for you to take yourself, a small fleet of soldiers, and that sorcerer out. Tonight, we grant no quarter."

Hun sneered, "Then, we attack. Is there anything else you wish?"

Oruku murmured, almost like he was hypnotized, "Bring me the turtles, if you can. I do not care about the rest."

Hun seemed a little surprised, "By the rest, do you mean the humans?"

"What I mean," Saki whispered, almost with a threatening tone, "Is that you have my permission to do as you please to the humans, the vixen, and the rat. You need not bring them to me alive."

Hun bowed, then exited, "I do as you command."

The Shredder smiled to himself, almost amused. Hun rarely ever failed him, even in defeat. He expected that by the stroke of midnight he would have at least one terrapin quivering under his control. If he brought more, he would be ecstatic, although he wouldn't show it. He knew what it felt like to have something tremble under his power, and he loved it.

Tonight would be a good night to spill blood.

-----

Raphael sat cross-legged in front of the junk dojo, closing his eyes. Something was bothering him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Everything seemed to be like yesterday, and the weeks before that, but tonight was a little odd. He could smell something odd in the air, like warm cinders. Raph shook his head, trying to focus his mind. Of course Leo could do it easily, but containing himself was difficult for Raphael. He couldn't help but feel nervous.

The turtle was so caught up in the bizarre feeling that he didn't notice April walk into the dojo. She had closed shop up an hour ago, and had pretty much been practicing since then. She had taken a small break, but went back to work. Leonardo was upstairs with the rest of his brothers, so Raphael guessed that Splinter was working with her, teaching her the ropes of stealth. Raph doubted that she would ever really need to know how to blend in with her surroundings, but he never discouraged her from doing so. April was a headstrong chick—she could take care of herself.

Someone kicked Raph in the shins playfully. The turtle looked up to see Casey, back from his job. He snickered, "What, taking a nap?"

"I was meditating, dork.", Raphael sneered, then stood up, "You know, clearing my mind?"

Casey laughed again, leaning against the wall, "What, something wrong? You never meditate without being forced to." He took a quick peek in the dojo, marveling at April, "Wow, she learn that today?"

Raphael nodded, "Yeah, Splinter thought it would be a good idea if she knew how to fight—or fight better. She's pretty nasty with a spear."

The human was confused, "How do you know that?"

He shrugged, "Long story."

Casey rolled his eyes, crossing his arms at the same time, "Whatever. I know when I'm not loved."

Raphael decided not to walk into that trap. He might not make the smartest decisions, but he knew when his buddy wanted to make fun of him. He listened to April and Splinter fight for a while, metal clacking against wood and vice versa. Sometimes, she would laugh, noticing her mistakes as she went. One time he thought he heard Splinter chuckle too—maybe she had pulled a fast one on him. Humans are resourceful, Raph would give them that much credit.

Someone hurdled down the stairs at light speed. Raph noticed Leo and Don race down, Leo jumping into the dojo in terror. The red-banded turtle was confused, only responding to Donnie's signals to go upstairs. Both the turtle and Casey followed Donatello, still unsure about what was going on. Before he fully understood what was going on, he looked outside to see a mob of shadows standing in front of April's store.

Raph hissed, "Great. The Foot make house calls."

Michaelangelo and Ninjara crept down from April's apartment, snatching a glance outside. He felt a little sick, staring back at Raph, his soft eyes confused. April and Splinter quickly joined them, the former sighing in irritation. The Foot had trashed her store once before—did they have to come do this again? She shot Splinter a look, "If you and the boys want to duke this out, do it outside, okay?"

The rat clenched his teeth, nodding unconsciously. Leonardo was trying to deny the fact that twenty-some people were standing outside of the store, all looking for blood to spill. He was the first to walk out, his brothers following him timidly. Ninjara followed eagerly, gladly entertained by any reason to fight. Casey went out after them, shaking his head in irritation; why did he have to get involved with these guys? April frowned as she watched Splinter follow him out, slightly concerned. What was she going to do if they all got grievously hurt?

"Splinter," she sighed in restrained anger, "I'm going with you."

The Sensei was not pleased, "I don't want you to be hurt, Miss O' Neil."

April ignored him, taking her katana with her and walking behind him. He gave up fighting with her, "Try not to get killed."

"Thanks for your faith, Splin," she rolled her eyes, continuing to march out with him.

Hun stood outside the door, his arms crossed in reserved amusement. Here, to his surprise, stood six mutants and two humans, coming out to greet him with no fear or terror. Even the girl human came out to play—this tickled him the greatest. He would have fun beating them all to a bloody pulp.

"Shall we go to the back, then?", Hun sneered, "Avoid being spotted?"

Raphael cackled, his voice edgy, "Ladies first, Hun."

The troop of warriors made their way to the back of the store, hiding themselves along the alleyway. They all drew their weapons, knowing where this was heading. Splinter signaled for April to stick behind him, in case she got into trouble. Leonardo and his brothers took point, preparing for battle. Casey hung around with April, deciding that she did need his help—at least, in his aggressive, testosterone driven mind.

Hun smiled again, his teeth gleaming in the moonlight, "All right, boys. Let's make our master proud."

There was an explosion of kinetic energy as a Foot soldier went flying through the air, stumbling backwards. He barely caught his senses to understand that he had been slammed backwards by Splinter, noticing how the creature had just returned to his prepared stance. His friend was caught off guard by April, a glint of moonlight shining off her katana as she slashed into his right leg. She was startled at her accuracy, "Splinter, look! I hurt him!"

"That's very nice, Miss O' Neil," Splinter groaned, holding off another foot member, almost loosing his balance from the pressure. He pushed back, strong enough to throw off his attacker. Another opponent tackled him to the ground, almost taking April down with them. She shrieked in surprise, almost scared to death.

Casey Jones snarled, pulling his hockey mask over his face. With a swift bash of his stick, he crashed into the opposing Foot Member, flinging him off the rat like a puck. Splinter was grateful, quickly jumping back on his feet and assessing the situation around him. This was not going to be pretty.

Donatello was the first to make an offensive against Hun, bashing his staff into the burly man's stomach. He did little more than wheeze, the wooden shaft breaking into shards. Don's heart raced as the human made eye contact with him, almost intimidating him with his intense gaze. He froze as a large fist came hurdling to his chest, blocking with his staff like a reflex.

Wood splintered as Don was smashed off his feet, crashing to the ground a few feet away. His chest burned, almost like a fire had lit up on his plastron. He started to cough up blood, rolling over on his side in pain. Checking for cracks in his shell, he found nothing, to his relief. The world began to buzz painfully dark, and his nose began to buzz. This didn't feel right.

Donatello blacked out, his body curled in a fetal position. Leonardo nearly lost his breath, watching the event unfold around him like a movie. He tried to run to his brother's side, but he was blocked off by another pesky soldier. Screaming in anger, he started to combat with the human—he didn't have time for this! His brother needed his help!

Ninjara went to back up the humans and Splinter, noticing how the three of them were already getting tangled up in enough trouble. There wasn't much she could do to Donatello. His brothers would take care of him, though. She needed to concern herself with the others. Driving her sword through a soldier's body, she heard the satisfying gurgling noises of his lungs being punctured and filling up with blood. She ripped the katana out of his corpse, focusing her attack on the next piece of shit that was attacking Casey.

Michaelangelo was close enough to Donnie, so he backed up and started to guard him. He noticed that he was almost completely surrounded on one side, but he wasn't concerned. If Splinter had taught him one thing, it was to intimidate his foes with a mere show of his talent. Whipping around his nunchakus like twin fans, he spun them into the neck of one soldier, stunning him momentarily. He slowed down his spinning, sticking his tongue out to taunt the rest of his foes. _Let me at them!_, he snickered to himself.

Raphael, fueled by weeks of repressed fighting and the anger of witnessing his brother nearly get creamed, dove into a combat circle like a screaming phoenix. His sais latched into the side of one soldier, catching him in the ribs. It wasn't fatal yet, but Raphael intended to kill the soldier. No one would hurt his family—NO ONE! He shrieked in rage, nearly taking his prey's arm off with one slice of his sai.

Splinter quickly directed April, "Miss O'Neil! Stay by Mister Jones until I come back." She sighed, nodding as the rat took off at full speed. He rolled underneath one soldier's legs, popping up next to Michaelangelo. The turtle was grateful for back-up, letting his Sensei take defense of Don while he continued to shuck through the soldiers like corn.

April almost lost her cool as five Ninja began to surround her and Casey. She watched very closely, paying attention to when they would do as much as flick their wrists. With a sudden flare of repressed rage, she yelled as she began to dance across the battlefield. Her deadly pattern wove back and forth through the Foot, slashing and slicing at any loose appendage she could find. Within the matter of three seconds, she had managed to chop off four arms and sever a leg, all without her fully realizing what she was doing. When she stopped, she nearly freaked out, noticing the sprays of blood across the ground.

Casey was very impressed, almost terrified, "You learned that in a day?"

She shook her head, "No! I just. . .lost myself! Holy cow!"

Casey nodded in agreement, taking out one of the dismembered soldiers while Ninjara took care of two others, "You go girl!"

Leonardo downed his current combatant, leaping through the hoard to get next to his brother. His eyes narrowed as he punctured through another soldier, finally making his way to Donatello. He shook loose the corpse of the Foot to see Hun coming down on them way too late. The muscle-bound human crashed through Leo and Splinter, the former rebounding into the side of the brick building. His head swam, almost passing out for a moment with the nausea. His father, almost like some sort of miracle, had already pounced back at Hun, tearing at the lackey with as much strength as he possessed.

Raphael tripped Hun's legs out from under him, sending the human crashing to the ground. He assisted Leonardo back to his feet, gathering his swords for him. Leo smiled, grateful to have Raph's help. The red-garbed turtle smiled, then rushed back into battle, taking on another soldier that had managed to entangle Mikey in his Kusari-Gama.

Donatello came back to consciousness, his head spinning. Stumbling back up, he found himself weapon-less. He stood up way too fast, almost falling back down with his first step. Realizing his son was up, Splinter went to go aid him. With some sort of humor, he let Don relax onto his shoulders, "Come. Let's get you to safety."

Don was still confused, "Sensei, what about the others?"

The rat was very calm, helping his off to the sidelines of the battle, "They are holding up all right. Relax." Hollering across the battlefield, Splinter called for Raphael's attention, "Raphael! Get your brother out of here!"

"Aww," the turtle sighed, knocking out another Foot member, "But I'm having fun!" Obediently, he dashed across the field, instantly taking over Don while Splinter went back to the melee. April noticed the commotion, signaling Casey and Ninjara to follow her. She tossed the fox the keys to her van, "Get them out of here as far as you can go!"

The vixen was more that happy to oblige, "Sweet! Wheels!" She ran off next to Raphael, both helping Don to wobble off the field. He was still nauseous, stumbling to almost puke a couple of times. April was satisfied with her end of the deal—she wanted to get back to work.

In the shadows of the alleyways, a man appeared out of the darkness, his spell disappearing in a faint shower of sparkles. He concentrated his mind to attack the nearest object, flinging Casey into a nearby wall. Hun sneered in delight as his back-up finally arrived, charging head-first at Leonardo. The turtle was startled; he thought he recognized the shadowy man for a second, but he was disrupted by Hun taking him to the ground. Splinter froze in terror, his fur standing up on the back of his body.

The mage narrowed his eyes, his puffy face smiling eagerly. There was nothing he loved more than seeing the look of despair in his enemy's eyes. The territory between both of them seemed to narrow, the rest of the world blotted out in darkness. Splinter tried focusing his will, but it was gone. Fear nearly consumed him, something that hardly ever happened.

Pushing that out of his head as much as possible, the rat went flying at the spell caster, finally realizing him for all his evil ways and cruel attempts at assassinating his sons and him. He took the end of his jo staff and whipped it around the warlock's head like a cudgel. The force wasn't strong enough to stun the mage, though; if anything, it made him snicker in delight. He loved prey that fought back—it was a bit like playing cat and mouse.

Splinter shuddered as the warlock held out his hand, arcane energy rushing around his body. Something like the strike of a lightening bolt coursed through him, burning and numbing his nerves and muscles. He couldn't even find the ability to scream in his grasp. The Sensei collapsed, unable to react to the world around him as the spell finished its deed. It was even lucky that he could find himself breathing. Coughing, he closed his eyes, trying not to show his pain.

Tai-Shen sneered, leering down at his victim, "Nice try." He snapped his fingers, summoning four flunkies to his side. The wizard snarled, "Take this down to the sewers and dispose of it properly. Shredder did not request for his presence."

For all the chaos in battle, no one saw Splinter's desperate situation, save for April O'Neil. Trying to get someone's attention, she tried yelling at Leonardo. The turtle was busy enough, grappling Hun on the cold cement, barely keeping his trachea from being crushed. Casey was also a bloody mess, but he kept fighting off the Foot like a dog against a pack of wolves. Mikey had big enough troubles trying to find time to attack all of his foes, never-the-less hear April. She nearly screamed as the wizard began to move in for her friends, watching the Ninja carry the beaten rat down into the underground labyrinth. Her mind was in a dilemma; if she stayed up here, Splinter would most certainly be killed before his paralysis wore off, and if she went down, she wasn't sure if her friends would get out.

She made her decision. Whether or not she was up here wasn't going to make a difference—eventually, they would be overwhelmed. Nearly shaking in fear, she darted through the forces of the Foot, jumping head-first into the sewer opening. She grabbed onto the ladder as she descended, flying down as fast as humanly possible. April knew that she might not always be the best of fighters, but she could be good. She needed to learn, and there was no time like the present.

Tai-Shen watched the red-head tear after his lackeys, but he wasn't concerned. One girl against four of the Foot clan? It was almost laughable. He continued into the melee, pulling out three sharp needles. Barely passing by Casey, he stuck one needle into his left arm and proceeded to attack Michaelangelo in a similar way. Both felt woozy as the needles began to work their ways, the poison on them knocking them out within seconds. He didn't need the third needle; Hun finally stunned Leonardo, rendering him unconscious with a quick punch to a vital pressure point.

Hun hauled the limp turtles over his shoulders, signaling for the rest of his troops to follow him. Tai-Shen summoned another soldier to hold up Casey, teleporting himself to the rooftops with a single flick of his hands. The corpses along the field also vanished with the Ninja, their bodies taken up by their comrades. Within seconds, the alleyway was clear of the battle, loose garbage rolling around like before. There was no evidence left. Everything was as it was before.

Except that the band of heroes had been severely separated.

-----

April slid into the sewers, delicately landing. She made no sound as she continued down the passageways, watching the shadows for any indication of the Foot clan. She almost thought about running, but she was sure that the Foot would hear her. Keeping pace with the human shadows, she gently placed her hand on the walls. Her heart trembled with fear, but she wouldn't let it take her over. She had to do this—or she might die.

One soldier held back for a moment, almost scaring April half to death. Had she been spotted? Noticing how the Ninja kept moving on shortly afterwards, she guessed not. She kept creeping closer and closer to the lag behind, hoping to get him held down. Raising her katana slowly, she prepared to run the Ninja through, keeping silent all the while. With a quick millisecond of activity, she succeeded, running the sword straight through his heart and yanking it back out without little more than an echo of noise. She dragged his body back behind her, hiding long enough to throw the Foot off her tracks.

Coming behind the next soldier, she was a little more confident. This one was slightly confused, almost thinking he heard something. She proceeded to disembowel this one, once again hiding her work. Although she hated spilling the blood, she felt she had to. She needed to make sure that tomorrow morning, when and if she woke up, the turtles had half a chance in hell of being reunited.

Catching up with the second one, she caught a glimpse of the pack's leader, holding Splinter up with one end of a short sword placed against his neck. She almost squirmed, her mind shaking with fear. How could she do this? She barely knew how to whip a Katana around! Her anger rebuilding itself, she was much more gutsy with assassinating the third man, grabbing him to the ground, finishing him off, and shoving him aside.

_One more, April_, she tried convincing herself, _you can do it._

April took notice of which arm held the sword. If she could cut that arm off, she could easily take out the last man and get Splinter back. She wasn't sure where she'd go, with her van gone and a fight possibly still going on upstairs, but she would come to that bridge when it needed to be crossed. Hoping to God that she wouldn't fail herself now, she raised her Katana ever so slightly next to the final Ninja's arm. Closing her eyes, she lowered the sword, slashing through bone.

The final Ninja turned to her in sudden terror, his severed arm dangling by a sinewy thread of muscle. He dropped Splinter into the sewage, grabbing the sword from his dead hand. She cocked her head at him, smiling evilly. No, this was her victory, and she was going to have it! With a cry, she slashed through the Ninja's torso, ripping through his left side before he could even put up a defense. He dropped like a rock, his eyes wide with surprise—a girl had killed him!

April quickly through her katana to the side, jumping into the river of filth that ran next to her. She dragged the rat out of the river, taking nearly all of her strength. She flung him next to the wall, proceeding to flop down carelessly next to him. Shaking with anxiety, she almost laughed. That was the closest she had ever come to death!

"Miss O'Neil?", Splinter was slowly taking control of his body again, the paralysis wearing off, "Are you all right?"

She was a little shell-shocked, but nodded, "Yeah. I think so. God, I'm scared."

Splinter was confused, "What do you mean?"

April shrugged, trying to settle down, "If I made any mistakes, we could have both died! Oh my god—we could have **_died._**"

The rat relaxed a little bit, wiggling his fingers to see if any permanent damage had set in, "It's all right now, Miss O' Neil. You're safe."

April finally accepted that she was out of harm's way, leaning back against the cold wall. She didn't know if the battle had turned out the same way topside, but at least everything was under control here. It finally began to sink into her head that she was wet with sewer drainage and smelt like garbage. She heavily sighed in disgust, "Great. I liked these khakis."

Splinter shook his head, chuckling to himself, "Raphael said they looked good on you."

"I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or to be offended."

-----

Raphael parked April's van inside of his family's 'garage', waiting for something to happen. The Foot hadn't bothered to follow him out this far, so he was pretty sure he was in the clearing. Donatello was maintaining consciousness in the back, apologizing over and over again for letting himself get taken out in one hit. Ninjara was busy checking his wounds out, making sure he didn't break anything. Raph waited patiently in the front, kicking his legs across the passenger's seat.

"I am such a wuss.", Don lamented, "I can't believe I got my ass kicked."

Raphael snickered, "Eh, don't stress yourself out. We'll contact the others in a little bit." His shell cell began to ring, and he laughed again, "See? They called us!"

He answered, casually sitting back up. The reception on it was crap, though, "Don, you need to fix this thing."

Donatello took the cell phone, listening intently to it. It continued to sparkle and crackle, the reception fading in and out. He thought for a second he almost picked up on someone's voice, but it wasn't sounding hot. Checking the reception on the phone, he noticed it seemed to be perfectly normal on his side. Something must have been tampering with the signal from wherever the called was coming from.

Don tried to speak to his caller, "Hello, this is Don? Can I help you?"

The caller was silent, garbled by some kind of background noise. The turtle tried again, "Hello? Is someone there?"

Silence. Ninjara and Raphael were beginning to get unnerved, listening to the weird wave static coming back to them. She raised her attention briefly to gaze at Raph, both with the same question in their eyes, then turned back to the cell phone. This wasn't sounding good at all.

Don tried one last time, his eyes narrowed in frustration, "Whoever it is, you're going to need to speak up. I can't hear you!"

The line crackled one more time before a ghostly message traveled across it, ". . . help . . ." The conversation then abruptly ended, leaving Ninjara, Raph, and Donnie pretty much in the dark. Don's face paled, his color draining away. Raphael shot him a questioning look, still pretty confused.

Don explained, stilled cold from fright, "I think that was Leo . . ."

-----

Sensei Saki stood over his three captives, marveling at Hun and Tai-Shen's work. He was used to getting no results from his lackeys, but lo and behold: two of the pesky turtles, here in his own hands! Saki was still mildly confused as to why they brought him Jones. He certainly had no use for the human. Never-the-less, he was mildly pleased with the events that unfurled.

Leonardo had woken up from the poison in his system and even attempted to call for help, as Hun told Saki. Thankfully, Hun had destroyed the cell device before he really got too far into his plan. Both Casey and Michaelangelo were still unconscious. All three had been bound and were placed in Stockman's quarters for captivity. As far as the duo knew, only three possible people stood in their way—Donatello, Raphael, and the fox woman. Saki wasn't quite sure who she was yet, but he knew well enough that he was an advisory.

Nothing had been reported on the condition of Splinter or April O'Neil. Tai-Shen was certain that the rat was dead—he wasn't even sure how he had survived his spell, but he knew that Saki's forces were trained well enough to dispose of a paralyzed beast. He had seen O'Neil follow the Foot down into the sewer, but doubted she could take on all four of them at once. Either one or both had to be dead—the girl wasn't trained, was she?

Saki sent both Hun and Tai-Shen off on their different ways, telling them to rest for the night. He was unsure as to what he should do with his three captives, but he wasn't so sure he wanted to kill them just yet. If he could lure the others to him, he might get rid of his enemies in one fell swoop. This would be much more efficient, at least for him. The Shredder was beginning to succumb to his tired state, though. He didn't think his thoughts were exactly the clearest.

Gazing across New York once more, he saw a small cloud pattern starting to move in over the city. The forecast called for dark skies tomorrow with a possibility of rain, but it would probably come later in the evening. Oruku Saki enjoyed heavier weather—it reminded him of his old pastimes in Japan. A part of him still missed that small island, even though he had amassed wealth and power here beyond his dreams. Maybe old habits die hard, as most humans said.

He smiled, once again appeased. Whether or not the girl and rat were dead, that really didn't matter. They would be, if they dared to face him alone. He had all the cards—they had nothing. Be it three, four, or five that would come to save their friends and family, they couldn't possibly escape the Shredder's wrath. He would swallow them in his fire, like an old phoenix in its ashes. They wouldn't have a chance in hell.

The Shredder laughed. They were as good as dead.

-----

Author's Note:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I just did the impossible—two updates in one month! What the crap just happened here?!

Thank you so much for the reviews! J I like knowing what's on people's minds!

With summer coming up soon, I hope to wrap this story up by July. Hang with me until then, folks! :p See you soon!


	10. What Goes Around

Chapter Ten: What comes around . . .

The world as we know it is always turning, in more than just the spinning of Earth on its axis. Our lives are constantly in chaos, and it's up to us on how we respond to it. We could surrender to challenge or overcome it—it all depends on our attitude and effort. Even the most mundane of creatures can find joy. Ever watch a goldfish? They have nothing to live for in life, but they keep going at it. That is, until, the inevitable flushing to goldfish heaven. Maybe we should go against the tide of life, and find solutions on how to solve our own problems.

Bing! The dryer stopped.

April took last night's load out of it, carefully bundling it up as she went back upstairs. She had tried to wash the stench of sewer water out of her clothes. Fortunately, they smelt tolerable, so she wouldn't have to throw them away. There were no stains left either; even better. She had also managed to pry Splinter's robe away from him long enough to wash it, but not without a minor struggle. For someone who let his kids run around practically in the buff, he had serious issues with being naked around women.

After last night's struggle, no one had been seen or heard from. Splinter had tried to call Leonardo several times, but he had no luck reaching him. Donatello's phone was also unanswered, and Raph & Mikey's were off. It was enough to even make April sick. She knew that the boys probably were safe, but she hadn't seen Casey either. Thankfully, no Foot soldiers remained around her apartment when she came back home, so they didn't have to fight anyone else. It was odd how no one seemed to be around; did they think that the duo were dead?

She shook her head, growling in frustration. It was stupid how she was still so frightened! But, try as she might, she couldn't forget the way that sorcerer glared into her eyes as she left combat. To think he had been a mere customer that very day! She hated herself for letting him know her whereabouts. He probably had the 411 on all of them from the Shredder. How was she supposed to know that, though? He looked almost normal to her!

April opened the door to her main living room/kitchen. The TV was off, and the room smelt like tea. She didn't exactly remember turning on the appliance, but she didn't mind the scent too badly. The windows were still tightly shut, blinds shining only very fine lines of light. The door to her bedroom was closed, her bathroom door locked. Sighing, she knocked on the restroom door, "I've got your robe! Unlock the door!"

There was a quick click, and a furry hand shot out and grabbed his clothing. A few seconds later, Splinter unlocked the bathroom door, fully clothed. Steam curled out like smoky tendrils, which surprised April a little bit. She tried to goof around, "Didn't use my shampoo, did you?"

The rat sighed, "No, Miss O'Neil." He tried to laugh, but still seemed very disconnected. He had looked fairly ill after they came back up from the sewers last night, and this morning was no better. April wasn't sure if he got a lot of sleep. She thought she heard him cussing out his shell cell in Japanese at 2:30 in the morning, but she might have dreamt that. Technology and rats don't mix very well.

April tried to talk with him, "Splinter, it's fine. I'm going to try to close down the antique shop as soon as I can today, and I'll help you find them. If you want to go ahead and look while I'm working, feel free."

He nodded absently, "I think . . .I think I should stay here with you for a while."

That response surprised her, "What?"

He seemed lost, fiddling around with the Mr. Tea again, "For all I know, you could be the only thing I have left, Miss O'Neil. I don't want to leave you prey for the Foot clan."

That struck her funny. She didn't know if he had just called her weak or if it was the kindest thing he had ever done for her. It almost seemed awkward, like if she had just traveled back in time. Splinter barely trusted any human since Hamato Yoshi was murdered, and he seemed to accept her like family. It left a strange burning feeling in her heart, but she wasn't entirely sure she hated it.

"Well, all right.", April smiled, sitting down at the kitchen table, "If you want to stay up here for a while, that'll be great. I guess I might like the company—as much company as a Ninja can be, of course."

Splinter snickered a little bit, "Michaelangelo can be an entire crowd when he pleases."

The tea appliance shut off, finally done. The rat grabbed a couple of coffee mugs from April's cupboards, taking them with him to the table. They sat in silence for several moments, drinking tea and worrying about the future. For now, they could have very little mild conversation, knowing what was in store for them. One of the missing could be severely hurt or dead for all they knew. It was too painful to talk about.

"I think they're okay.", April tried to cheer both herself and the rat up, "They're tough kids. They can really roll with the punches, you know?"

Splinter nodded, still antisocial, "Yes. Sometimes, I wonder if . . ."

He was abruptly interrupted by the melodic ringing of April's phone. She was slightly confused, not sure who would be calling her in the morning. Checking the caller ID, her eyes widened as it identified the caller as simply 'Don'. She quickly answered it, Splinter jumping over next to her, "Hello? Donnie, is that you!?"

Donatello sighed in relief, overjoyed in hearing April's voice. He felt like such an asshole for not calling her place last night, but he wasn't sure if anyone was still there. His phone had registered that Splinter had tried to call him several times over the night, but he never answered until it was too late. He, Raph, and Ninjara were all pretty tired, and they had spent the night sleeping in April's van with the windows rolled down. It was surprising that Raph hadn't smashed Don's phone to bits especially after one call around 2:30 in the morning.

"Hey, April! You all right?", Don ecstatically greeted her. Raphael and Ninjara also listened intently to the conversation, both busy cleaning their weapons.

"We're fine!", April nearly giggled, "Oh my god, I'm so glad to hear you!"

Don laughed with her, "Same here. I was afraid that the Foot had kidnapped you guys!"

April stopped laughing, focusing a lot more, "Actually, about that . . ."

Raphael finally joined in, springing up to the passenger's seat next to Don, "April, darling, don't tell me that you're the only one home!"

"No, no! Oh god, no.", she gasped, "Splinter's with me."

Ninjara lifted one of her eyebrows, yelling from where she sat, "So, where's the other stooges?"

April shook her head, sliding down into her chair again, "I think they're in trouble."

Raphael rolled his eyes, kicking his feet out the window, "So, that explains last night, huh Don?"

Splinter knelt down on the linoleum, finally speaking into the receiver, "What happened?"

Don scratched his head, trying to put it in the gentlest terms, "I think Leo might have tried to call here. He's probably under Foot control by now, with Mikey and Casey."

Everyone became silent, unsure where to continue. April bit her lip, looking at her empty living room and then the sad wreck sitting next to her. Don traced a line of dust on the dashboard, trying to figure out what to do. Even Raph was a little shocked, tired from last night still. Finally, dashing the silence to pieces, Ninjara sighed, "Oh, okay, fine! Quit whining! Look, we'll pick some shit up from you guys' lair, then we'll come over there! Keep your pants on!"

April was a little skeptical about the fox's tone, but she agreed, "Okay. We'll be here." Don shut the phone off on his side, and April hung hers back up. There was an odd sense of tension in the air, and neither side could understand it. The three parked in the abandoned warehouse/turtle garage jumped out of the van, letting Don take lead into the sewers. April and Splinter nervously drank the rest of their tea, silent in their fear. All were still weary from last night—if they had to go into the nest of the Foot clan, could they survive?

They would have to—blood is thicker than nectar.

-----

Five PM. For most people, that's when they get off work. For Raphael, however, he was just getting started. He had spent the entire day preparing for their night strike at the Shredder's headquarters, gathering supplies and helping his brother tend to machines. Ninjara had been a lot of help with him, warming him up for battle through some of the downtime. Sometimes Donnie would give Raph gadgets to try out—most ended with minor technical errors. The red-banded turtle was ready to squash heads; with all that had been happening, there was little time for him to worry about the fate of his brothers and his friend Casey.

Don pulled up to the Second Time Around antique shop, waiting for April to close up. He was hoping to prove his worth this time around. Humming to himself, he tightened the grips on his bo staff. A little bit of anxiety raced through his heart, but he kept controlled. He ran on coffee the entire day and was getting used to the caffeine highs. He wished that he would calm down just a little bit.

Ninjara finished polishing her swords for the fourteenth time, try to keep her mind distracted. She needed to go home sometime soon. Hey, it was a blast living with the turtles, but she had gotten used to living on her own. As soon as they got this whole mess picked through, she was going back to her little abode in Chinatown. If the boys needed her, they could give her a call. More than anything else, she felt like she needed to patrol those streets again, just helping keep things in line. It was a bug that Casey called the 'Vigilante Virus'.

The lights finally shut off in the shop, April locking up the front. She signaled for Splinter to sneak out, then proceeded to follow him. She wasn't too keen on having to go straight into the heart of the Foot clan's headquarters. Last time she almost lost her friends inside of that maze, and she wasn't one to repeat past failures. This time, though, they needed her help. She wasn't going to let Mikey or Leo or Casey go without a fight. It was the least she could do.

Raph opened the back of the van up, helping April step into the back. Splinter jumped in after her, closing the door behind him. Both had brought their own weapons, April's katana sheath slung over her shoulder. Raph snickered, "Love the look, babe."

She smiled back, "I know. Makes me look sexy."

Ninjara nodded, giving her a thumbs-up, "That's what I think."

Don leaned over the back of the seat, "You guys want to buckle up?" With that, he floored it, the van instantly kicking up to thirty-five miles an hour and climbing. Splinter grabbed onto the wall of the van in reflex, his fingernails digging into the metal, "Slow down! You'll get arrested!"

Raphael snickered, then tossed two bags of stuff at April and Splinter. Inside were some minor electronic devices, headsets for their shell cells. April took out some shrunikens, looking at the hooked edges. She was liking this self-defense training more every day! Raph also passed Splinter a weathered leather quiver and a small bow, "Thought you'd like this."

Splinter laughed, playing with his son's bandanna, "You went through my room again?"

Raph crossed his arms, sitting up a little straighter, "It's revenge for finding my 'magazines.'"

April didn't like the sound of that, "You let him buy Playboys?"

The rat shook his head, "No. That's why I burned them."

Faking a dramatic scene, Raph leaned back against the van, "Oh, what did Tanya ever do to you?!"

Don abruptly slammed on the brakes. Everyone shot foreword in the van, hitting the front seat like cannonballs. Raph growled, pulling himself up to shotgun. His expression disappeared as he looked out of the car, leaning out of the window. There, in all its gleaming darkness, sat the entrance to Shredder's skyscraper fortress. He felt a little colder than usual.

"Got a plan, Don?", Raph whispered very quietly, slinking back into the van.

The purple-donned turtle explained, "You, me, and Ninjara are one team. Splinter and April are the other. We're going to play bait so they can go find our brothers." He turned his attention to the back, "The little beeping is where they are. I made a signal by tracking their shell cells. If they took them away, then at least you'll be closer. After one of us finds them, we'll give the others a call. Then we run like hell. Sound good?"

"Except for one thing, Donnie.", Raphael smirked, "Is April really going to be good at this?" She slapped him on the back of the head, then armed herself. They were ready to go.

Raphael sighed, "One for the money. . ."

-----

Fourteen cameras guarded the entry to the central first floor, watching for any suspicious activity. The security center inside had no indication of anything coming except for the steadily dropping numbers of cameras recording. One soldier on duty thought he saw a shruniken fly at the camera, but he was rather tired from the long day at work. Everything looked fairly clean. At least, until a cavalry of mutants came barging in at breakneck speed.

A brown and white streak of fur raced across the security entrance, nicking one soldier's elbow. Ninjara sneered in sly anger, continuing to rip into the guy. Splinter followed her attack, grabbing a Foot Ninja's leg and yanking him backwards. Don and Raph charged in after their dad, both dividing the room down the center as a line of corpses began to fall. April was a little surprised at their hurried rush, but was able to keep up with them for the most part. She kept in formation next to Splinter, watching and learning while keeping her opponents off her back.

Another squadron of Ninja flew in from an upper level access, flanking Ninjara and Raphael. The vixen was disoriented only temporarily, barely evading a glancing slash. Raph was also fortuitous, stumbling under a katana blade as he tumbled underneath its wielder's legs. Don easily dispatched a few around him, spinning with exceptional dexterity into the stomachs of his foes. April was a little freaked out, noticing how they seemed to be pouring into the room like a bleeding wound. She didn't see the sword coming straight for her heart, turning only to scream.

Splinter quickly snapped at the Ninja, his wooden cane impacting into the foe's fist. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, stunned from the attack. However, his good buddy felt the need to vindicate himself, raking at the rat like a screeching falcon. April, determined to repay the favor, blocked the onslaught, nearly tripping in the process. She threw the attacker off her, sending him sprawling to the floor. Splinter quickly thanked her, then started to pull her to the nearest exit.

Donatello was rather impressed by his skill today. After taking such a quick beating last night, he felt better to see three Ninja lying spread-eagle on the floor, wheezing and coughing. Taking two of his enemies off the ground, he knocked their heads together, effectively rendering them unconscious. The third one tried to strike at the turtle's heels, but Donnie was supernaturally quick. He bashed his bo staff into the villain's head, then decided to assist Raphael and Ninjara out.

Raphael found himself in an awkward position. He was face down on the ground, with some brute's foot on the back of his neck. He couldn't exactly remember what happened, but he figure it had something to do with the fist he saw flying at his head before the stars and chirpy birds came. Snatching one of his sais, he plunged the pointed end into the Foot's ankle, getting a ear-piecing scream as his reward. He jumped back onto his feet, then proceeded to puncture one of his enemy's vital organs.

Irritated with the fights stalling his time, Raph yelled to his brother, "Let's book it!" Both turtles took off to a door to the west, Ninjara slipping after them and defending their backs. Splinter dashed over towards the door opposite them, O' Neil racing to keep up with him. They slipped through the door quick enough to slam it shut, four shrunikens barely missing their necks. Donnie was also as fortunate, his buddies bolting the door behind them as they continued to walk down their new territory.

Ninjara took a moment to pant, sheathing only her wakazashi, "So, where are we?"

Donatello frowned, checking the shell cell signals, "We're on the right track, but that means April and Splinter can't get to our brothers like we planned."

Raphael sighed, spinning one sai on his finger, "So, we switch jobs. Like you really expected Splinter could figure out the damn phone anyway?" Don shot him a strange look, so Raph recalled, "Remember the microwave? Need I say more?"

"Fine, fine.", Donnie shook his head, a slight headache coming on, "Let's go get them. I'm sure the others can take care of themselves."

The brothers rapidly set off after the beeping signal. Ninjara sighed in frustration, then followed after them. Spending time with more than one of the turtles got to be like baby-sitting. Grimacing, she glanced at a nearby clock in the hallway. Great, not only was she stuck in this crap-hole, she was missing _Passions_! She hated missing her soap of the day!

"You guys so owe me.", Ninjara scowled, continuing to pursue the brothers' trail. To her, it was equivalent to the blind leading the stupid.

-----

Five thirty-five PM. Sunset was coming soon. As beautiful as sunsets may be, Tai-Shen had little time to admire their aesthetics. He had to spend this crucial time preparing for his next day, rituals that let him continue to cast such potent spells. He made two sacrifices a day for these gifts, once at sunrise and then again at sunset. So, he was doing what he had been doing for the past twenty years.

This time, though, he had a captive audience—literally. Leonardo was the first to fully recover after last night's melee, shrugging off some of the damage but still fairly bruised. The human called Jones awoke around nine this morning, and would not shut up until Tai-Shen muted him via magic for a few hours. Michaelangelo had come around during noontime, and quickly learned to keep quiet in the spell-caster's presence from his friend's unfortunate condition. All three seemed to keep each other company, worrying more about their friends than themselves. It amused him to watch the glare in Leonardo's eyes every time he mentioned what he had done to his family.

In fact, just for Leo's amusement, he had prepared a special sacrifice. He had caught it when it was burrowing through Stockman's lab, and took it with him. The Stockman fellow was pleasant enough to Tsukano Tai-Shen, although they rarely saw eye to eye when it came to spell components and how various elements and biological structures should react to each other. In fact, Baxter had been rather open and friendly with the warlock, although he did not understand why. Perhaps after being force to work with Oruku Saki for so long, Baxter got lonesome for intelligent discussion about philosophy and nature. Tai-Shen smiled to himself; lonely like his little mouse sacrifice.

Casey was a little unsettled, "Uh, you've got a mouse. Why do you have that?"

Tai-Shen murmured, his voice a low growl, "You'll see." The white rodent squirmed through his fingers, slipping in and out like it was trapped in a maze. Its beady eyes couldn't quite perceive its imminent fate, its whiskers twitched nervously. The mouse's long tail dangled around Tai-Shen's wrist, flicking in fear ever once in a while.

The wizard smiled, his expression placid, "This mouse represents every creature I've ever fought against." He let it run across his knuckles, continuing his comparison, "They scurry about life, weaving in and out through their troubles. Every one of them believed that if it did the right thing, that maybe it could hold onto its precious life for one more day." Grabbing tighter onto the rodent, he finished, "Mice and men are so closely related in their goals. It's sickening. And that's why I am inevitable to both them and this mouse."

Michaelangelo turned away in horror, hiding his head behind Leonardo's shoulder while the elder brother watched in paralyzed fear. Casey clenched his teeth, shuddering in unexplained terror. The warlock picked the mouse off his hand by its tail, muttered a few Japanese words, then proceeded to swallow it whole. His posture relaxed for only a moment as Tai-Shen focused his mind once again, enjoying the sensation of fear and power he held over his captives. Finally, he sneered, "I am death's chariot, and I have taken many men to their graves."

Casey fought against his chains, fighting in anger, "You're fricking sick, you know that?!" Leonardo tried settling his friend down, but Casey was beyond anger, "If you or anyone else in this psycho building dare lay a finger on April, I will personally KILL YOU!!!" His chains straightened, clanking under stress. The piercing gaze in Casey's eyes almost surprised Tai-Shen, but it didn't exactly terrify him. Casey wasn't all that scary locked up, and neither were his cowed friends.

Tai-Shen chuckled at their expressions, "Hit a little close to him, did I?" Relishing in their feelings, he turned to face them, "It will happen, and you three know it. Your brothers, your lovers, your family—all of them will perish. I hope to watch."

A small buzz hummed in Tai-Shen's ear. Someone had set off one of his magical traps. The warlock stood up, quickly closing the blinds to his small room, "Excuse me. I have something to deal with." He closed the door behind him softly, like if it were made of a fragile glass. Only a small lamp illuminated the room enough for the turtles and Casey to see anything. Their world was shut out once more.

Leonardo sighed in masked weariness, rubbing his forehead. As far as he knew, he could have lost his family already. Sure, Donnie and Raph had escaped, and Michaelangelo was sitting next to him, but what of everyone else? What if someone had caught up with his brothers and Ninjara? Could someone have already killed April when she ran after his father's soon-to-be assassins? Did the fates let them have luck and they were safe? His heart was heavy with sorrow, but the burning inside of him was still hoping for the best.

Mikey tried cheering Leo up, "Hey, what do you think they're up to right now, anyway?"

Leo crossed his arms across his legs, "I don't know, Mike. Hope they're all right."

Casey joined in, nodding, "Yeah, I think you've still got brothers, at least."

Leonardo lifted a brow, "What does that mean?"

The human muttered, slouching, "April, I think she might be good at fighting someday, but I don't think she could have taken on a whole fleet of those punks on her own. I'm . . ." He stopped, noticing the two sets of eyes that were firmly watching him. Picking out the right words, he murmured, "Guys, I think I love April."

The room became dead silent. Mikey cocked his head, trying to read Casey's sad expression. Leonardo was unsure if he was supposed to laugh or not. Casey buried his face in his knees, "I think I just made a fool out of myself." Leo closed his eyes, snickering to himself. Mike stuck his tongue out, taunting Jones a little. Even Casey finally had to break down and laugh, "Yeah, that was weird."

Something started to clink outside, shutting up the group almost instantly. It sounded like someone was trying to unscrew the doorknob from the outside. Leo was mildly freaked out, hoping it wasn't someone preparing to kill them. Mikey noticed the shadows on the ground, seeing that a set of feet had only two toes. He pointed out the observation to his buddies. They finally understood that someone had come to their rescue.

The doorknob fell to the ground with a heavy clank. Raphael barged through the door seconds later, kicking it out of his way. He cackled in amusement, "What the crap are you guys doing sitting on your asses?" Casey scowled at him, "Help us out, would you, buddy?" Raph sneered again, whipping out a sai, "Anything for a friend."

Ninjara came in next, observing the room, "Damn, who crashed here?" She looked at one long standing plant in the corner, checking how some of the leaves had been torn off. Standing akimbo, she continued to look at the room. There were very expensive paintings on the wall that looked oriental styled. A coffee table also sat in the center of the room, a woven rug lying on each side of the table. On the table was a rotting old book, its spine falling to bits.

Donatello came in afterwards, keeping watch on the doorway temporarily. He took out his lock pick, helping Raph unchain his brothers. Leonardo thanked him graciously, "It's good to see you again." Donnie nodded, grabbing his brother around the shoulders, "Right back at ya." Mikey smirked as he stood up, rubbing his wrists, "Aw, that's cause they love each other!" Raph smacked Mike again, then rolled his eyes. He was just as glad to see his brothers safe, not to mention his bonehead friend.

Don noticed the old book on the table, "Hey, what's this?"

Leonardo quickly informed his brother, "I think it's Tai-Shen's spell-book. He studies it a lot during the day." He glanced at the text, "What is that language, anyway?"

Don scratched his head, "It might be Chinese. I thought Tai-Shen came from Japan, though."

Raph irritably snapped, "Look, Don, we don't have time for this! We gotta get moving before anyone figures out we've been playing jailbird." Just as he stopped talking, his shell cell began to ring. Glancing in his pocket, he noticed the back number came from Splinter's cell phone. Cautiously answering it, he heard a foreign voice speak into the receiver. His blood became ice, his pupils narrowing. He pressed a button on the phone, activating a visual screen, then passed it to Leonardo.

He whispered, "It's for you."

-----

Splinter and April jumped behind another door, holding it back against seven Ninja who were attempting to find them. The Sensei bolted the door, then jammed his staff in the lock for good backup. April slid to the floor, still clutching her katana and shivering. They had managed to outrun and escape so many of them—it was lucky they were still alive! She sighed again, trying to catch her breath.

The rat dropped to the floor next to her, throwing the quiver and bow off his back. He placed the items near her left arm, insisting, "Take this." She shook her head, tossing him her sword. She would rather do long distance battles anyway; melee fights took too much effort. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she finally got to noticing that something was wrong in this room.

The room glowed with a dim red light, the other sets of lights shut off. Large metallic tables sprawled across the room, holding various test tubes, beakers, and jars on it. The walls were lined with larger tubes, some holding suspended chunks of some sort of biological material inside. A hemisphere shot off from the rectangular room, holding more suspension tanks. Several computers sat along the south wall, flying toasters bouncing across the idle monitors. This looked way too familiar to be coincidental.

"I think we're in Stockman's lab.", April murmured, finally finding his company's old crest on one of the hard drives.

Splinter agreed with her, "I wouldn't know. That would seem to make sense."

April leaned back against the door, "Just great. We outrun Ninja and end up here. My life is irony."

Splinter scanned the room one more time, "At least we're somewhere were no one knows where we are." He stood back up, taking some time to look inside the glass tubes. Shuddering, he noticed how the dissected body in several tubes had a reptilian look to it, although he couldn't find the head or legs. This was something new for Stockman's work—the android man loved machinery more than biological systems.

April also took some time to stroll around the lab, checking her new shell cell out occasionally. The signals that Donnie told them to follow were further apart from them than they had been when they entered the building. She shrugged, slipping the phone away. Looks like they were in the wrong place, but no surprise there. She crossed her arms, her attitude become a little moodier. Glancing up for a second, she screamed in sudden shock.

A large, disembodied spinal column was suspended in liquid, its head still attached. Two large eyes stared blankly, unfocused in death. Stockman had jammed pins into its jaw to open its mouth, revealing slender distorted teeth that folded back. April nearly buckled, grabbing onto one of the tables to help her balance. Splinter helped her get fully back on her feet, his eyes analyzing the dead reptile in the jar. He shivered under her grasp.

She barely whispered, "Is that what attacked you?"

He nodded, eyes still viewing the head, "It's a little more deceased than when I last knew it."

April's fists clenched in reflex, her mind buzzing, "We've got to . . .see what Stockman's been up to." She looked around the room again, "You check what he's got over in those tanks. I'll see if I can get anything out of his computers."

Splinter agreed to her plan, the human finally letting him go. She sat down in one of the computer and went to hack it, her fingers fluttering at almost ninety words a minute. He took her katana with him, carefully observing the hemisphere. There were no security cameras in here, or even in the room, for that matter. Slightly unsettling, but they didn't know what else could be in here.

The floor in the hemisphere was glass, metal bars supporting it. Several electrical wires ran through the floor like veins, twisting through the beams. Splinter could see down into the floor below him; it was a storage room for more technology. This looked familiar—he bet his sons and he had come through this way when they had invaded the Shredder's skyscraper previously. The floor was probably an elaborate patch job for the damage they had caused.

He stepped into the room cautiously, checking for any sort of security systems. The creatures in the tanks seemed to be more like zoo exhibits, bizarre little creatures that Baxter had been toying with. One was a red parrot, but other from a strange feather growth on its legs, it looked normal. Directly across from it was a frog of some kind, but still looked relatively like it should. Splinter kept going around the half circle, trying to find something weird.

April continued to hack at the computer, but was having no luck accessing the program. She went through several favorite passwords of Stockman's, but none were kicking up any sort of results. She leaned closer to the screen, watching the scanning lines flicker. Spinning around, she caught something strange out of her blind spot. A small metallic button on the side of the hemisphere was glowing, a tiny red laser dot burning in the pattern. She stood up to get a closer view, noticing how the flickering kept changing slightly. Her eyes widened as she finally saw numbers rolling at steady pace, counting backwards.

3 . . .

"Splinter, did you step on anything?", April questioned, watching the numbers move.

The rat called back, "No, Miss O' Neil. I can't find any traps."

2 . . .

Splinter looked at the central exhibit, jumping back in surprise. Another reptile lay in slumber behind the glass, but it was much larger than what we would like to call normal. His pupils tightened, noticing that the scale patterns were all too similar from the specimens in the jars outside the hemisphere. This was a duplicate creature, another snake that Stockman had created.

April noticed his sudden reflex, "Something's fishy about this. Let's get out!"

1 . . .

"I am in full agreement on this one.", Splinter jolted, gathering his bearings and moving towards his companion. A shattering sound disturbed his hustle, like glass scraping onto the floor. He stopped in his tracks, feeling air rush behind his robe to his muzzle. It was warm breath.

April's expression explained it all, "Oh . . .my . . .God . . ." The numbers flickering near here knee halted, directing her attention away. A screeching sound dragged across her vision, glass doors shooting across the entrances to the hemisphere. Across them, another door dropped down against that, firmly securing the corridors off. A final set of metal bars shot diagonally across the doors, locking in place in the center.

0.

More glass exploded into the air as the exhibits burst into flame. A small nozzle erupted from the inside of the windows, instantly cooking the strange creatures Stockman had created, save for the one that escaped. When the pressure inside of the exhibits became too intense, the glass doors of their habitats crackled out in all directions. Splinter barely dodged the sudden explosion of one of these exhibits, tumbling on the ground to avoid the sudden scorch of heat. The smell of burning flesh almost made him gag.

"Miss O'Neil!", Splinter coughed, "Get out of here, now!"

She looked at him like he was freaking crazy, "You're going to die!"

Ignoring her protests, he shouted, "Find a way to shut the gas off!"

April leapt to her feet, searching for some kind of valve next to the hemisphere. She found something like a wheel, quickly turning it to the right. The flames died down inside of the chambers, leaving only a faint hissing noise. She darted back over to the hemisphere, watching Splinter push himself up to his knees. He picked a large piece of glass out of the side of his leg, tossing it furiously to the side. It drew a painful amount of blood, but he couldn't take the time to stop the bleeding.

Orange eyes glowed above his head, nostrils flaring as it smelt powerful scents. Splinter's fingers reached for April's katana, securing tightly around its hilt. He slashed violently outwards, loosing his normal composure and screeching in desperation. The reptile was surprised to find such vicious behavior, sneering back. It thrashed at Splinter, its teeth barely missing the rat and scratching the glass floor. He shook in terror, more blood seeping onto the floor. He wasn't going to be conscious much longer at this rate.

April pounded the security measures with her fists, screaming in anger. This was not happening! She wasn't going to let her best friends' father suffer like this! She looked around hurriedly, hoping there was something heavy she could use to break the glass doors and metals bars down with. There was nothing of use, but her eye caught the flicker of the computer screens once again.

She scoffed them in frustration, but knew this was the only thing she could do. Hammering furiously at the keyboard, she typed in one last password that she knew. It was so secret that Baxter barely ever used it, but this time she had to use it. This was the only thing so important to Baxter that he would die over it. Typing rapidly, she spelt in the last thing she knew.

__

Beatrice. It was the name of Stockman's grandmother, possibly the only woman who would ever love him.

Screens popped up all over the place, confirming April's success. She hooted in triumph, then continued to hack down the system, ripping out security defenses like a virus. With a couple of quick taps, she disabled the metallic bars. She was working on the second glass door when someone tapped on her shoulder. She stopped, knowing who was standing behind her. A mechanical hand slipped over her mouth, silencing the panic-stricken girl, "Now, now, Miss O' Neil. That's not playing very nice."

Splinter drove the katana into the snake's flesh again, ripping through its glass-pierced hide to puncture a small bit of its spinal cord. From that point down, the snake couldn't seem to flail its tail, which irritated the beast even more. It raked its teeth into Splinter, pinning him between the walls and the snake. More blood dribbled onto the floor, enough to make the rat's head spin. He couldn't keep this up much longer.

His mind whirled to his sons, thinking about how they grew up. He remembered how they would always play, even when they were supposed to be practicing katas or sleeping. They would always come to him with their problems, curious about why the world was as cruel as it could be. He recalled their unconditional love of anything that seemed nice, from small kittens to full grown human beings. There was a part of him that would be incomplete if he ever failed to tell them he loved them ever again.

Wrenching the katana at a numbing angle, he snarled into his foe's eyes, "Watashi no musukos torisaru nai watashi." He thrust the sword up into the snake's trachea, continuing through its spine and finally through the base of the snake's neck. It watched in terror as blood rolled down its eyes, spilling onto the ground like a geyser. The jaws began to slacken around Splinter's arms, letting him slide loose to the ground. It retracted it teeth into its body, closing its mouth.

Yanking out the katana, Splinter dodged the dead reflex snap of the snake, backing away from the creature slowly. He braced himself against the wall, the wound in his leg burning more intense than before. He stumbled to meet April, but was surprised to find people with her. He dropped to the ground, watching in dazed awe. It always seemed to get worse when it seemed nothing else could happen.

Three men stood behind April, who was bound around the waist by chains. The first was the cyborg previously known as Baxter Stockman, who had a glisten to his eyes that relished in this stunning defeat. Hun held April captive, his expression amused by the predicament the two found themselves in. Tai-Shen was the third, his arms crossed in slight disappointment.

Hun sneered at him, "Call your sons back. We've had enough of this game."

-----

Leonardo gently answered the phone, holding it steady, "Hello? Who is this?"

"This is your friendly neighborhood garbage man," a burly man answered his reply, cockily glaring into the screen. He turn the viewing device around fast enough to quickly allow the turtles and Casey a glimpse at what had previously happened. Mikey's jaw dropped in shock, his eyes bulging. Don frowned at what he saw, shaking with repressed rage. Casey's heart jolted, a sensation he didn't feel very often.

The human shuddered, "Oh my God. April, April are you all right?! Those bastards!!"

Raph growled in rage, "I'm going to rip your throat out and feed it to dogs, Hun!"

The athletic human ignored their threats, calmly explaining his ultimatum, "If you do not come to Stockman's lab in 10 minutes, I finish what the snake started to the rat. If not in 20, I slit the girl's neck. Are we clear?"

Don spat, "Crystal." He grabbed the phone out of Leo's hands and through it against the wall in a sudden spat of anger. Raph nodded his acceptance of Donnie's violent eruption, but stopped after Leonardo shook his head.

Ninjara flicked her tail, her nose bent out of shape, "So much for our sneak attack."

Leonardo agreed with her, but tried to keep things under control, "Don, if you're done breaking phones, could you hook up mine to Splinter's frequency?"

Don nodded, slightly sheepish, "Yes sir."

Leo gave him a quick smile, then signaled everyone to follow him, "Hurry. We aren't working with a great deal of time on our hands."

Mikey was the first to charge out the door, his nunchaku back where they belonged—in his fists. Raph went after him, Ninjara tearing after both brothers. Casey raced out down the hall, a table leg as his current improvised weapon. Leonardo waited patiently for Don to reattach the signals, then let him have Raph's cell shell. He bolted out with the rest of his brothers, getting them to follow his lead. Don stopped only momentarily to grab Tai-Shen's spell book off the coffee table, hoping it would provide some sort of help to their problem.

Books had always been a good friend of Donatello.

-----

****

Author's Note:

Feeling the burn? :p Hope this chapter was hot enough for ya!

Only one more chapter and an epilogue to go! Thanks for hanging with me folks. I really appreciate that you guys read this. Makes a person feel warm & fuzzy. :D

So, here's seeing you again—soon! I wouldn't leave you too long on a cliffhanger, would I? (Rhetorically speaking, of course.)


	11. Karma is a Bitch

Chapter Eleven: Karma Is a Bitch

Nothing sucks quite as bad as the life of a hero. Ever wonder how bad they've got it off? Usually, something very traumatic has to happen to them before they even get into the hero business. Once that happens, they have to be constantly on call and be ready for anything that can go wrong. They have to be selfless and help people who may not necessarily deserve any assistance. I can guarantee you that heroes are injured a lot in their line of work—sometimes even killed. Some don't get anything more than a simple 'thank you' for what they do! Hell, some don't even get health insurance out of the whole deal!

But you know what? Heroes keep doing their job. That's commitment for ya.

This was one of those times Leonardo really regretted being the 'leader' of his brothers. He usually kept very close watch on his family at all times, but there were times where he couldn't fulfill his duties. Of course, being captured does through kinks into one's job, but Leo didn't even see this situation coming. He knew that his family often times got themselves into more trouble than they could dig themselves out of, but why did they have to bring April along too? Didn't they think she was safe at home?

Whatever. Leo continued to focus his mind, following his brother Donnie as he began to scope out the location of Stockman's lab. The rage in his lungs and heart just wouldn't leave him alone! He felt even more disturbed than Raphael, who was busy acing Foot Ninja while keeping their flock moving. They only had ten minutes before Hun's threats would begin to take hold, and Leo didn't trust Hun any farther than he could throw him. Mikey and Ninjara flanked the sides of the party, making sure no one else got themselves into trouble.

Don found the entrance to Stockman's lair within five minutes. Raphael did the honors of kicking the door down, blasting into the room like the hothead he was. Casey charged in after him, halting before he ran into a table. Michaelangelo bounded towards Hun, stopping only when the burly man's friends caught him and hurled him into a table. Ninjara, Don, and Leo were much more delicate about approaching the situation, not wanting to stir up any more trouble.

A terrifying scene lay before their eyes. Hun was standing in the center of the room, April held securely in his grasp. She looked like she had given him a run for his money, her hair a mess, but his strength ultimately overcame her struggles. Stockman stood to his right, rather composed despite the situation. Tai-Shen was to Hun's left, the mage's arms folded as he studied the group like prey. A strange glass section of the room had been closed off, blood smeared across the glass along with soot. Splinter lay next to the glass security doors, crumpled against it. Leonardo felt like someone had kicked him in the plastron, his face showing no signs of his internal weakness.

Baxter Stockman scoffed, "Five minutes, thirty one seconds. I thought you boys would be a little faster." The only part of him that remained vaguely familiar to the turtles was his face, the rest of his body a steel replica of something roughly humanoid-like in form. His left hand had been replaced with a gatling gun, a little something he had cooked up in his free time. He was at least roughly the size of a human this time. The last couple of times the turtles tangled with him, he was anywhere from towering over them to nothing larger than a dog.

Raphael crossed him arms, preparing to do the thing he loved best, "Hey, here's a brilliant idea, Stockman. Shut the hell up!"

"Ooooh! Surly!", Baxter hissed, bearing his teeth, "I wondered if you could talk with that pea-sized brain of yours!"

Hun became irritated with the situation, "Can it, the both of you!" He jerked April back over to his side, keeping her from squirming away again. If Hun enjoyed anything, he loved to manipulate a situation using hostages, "Unless, you want me to damage her pretty face . . .I could give her a complete make-over in fifteen seconds!"

Casey was more than willing to comply, which shocked Leonardo, "Look, buddy. We only want our friends back, okay?!"

"Fine!", Hun sneered, wrapping his arm around April's shoulders, "First things first. Weapons on the front table, pronto! And the duffel bag!" She shuddered under the smell of his breath, trying to keep calm.

Leonardo was the first to obey, setting his katanas down gently. Raph snorted, then throw his sais into the metallic surface, lodging them in place. Don placed his bo staff on the table, then opened his bag and emptied its contents on the top. Ninjara rolled her eyes, but was willing to get along this time. Casey chucked his table leg in the far off corner—it was little more than garbage to him. Mikey finally relented, kissing his nunchakus as he set them on the table.

Hun's eyes narrowed as he smiled, a rare sight, "Good." Giving a quick glare to Stockman, he murmured, "Deactivate the security devices." He turned his attention back to the turtles, "Because of your cooperation, this will go much smoother."

Stockman grumbled as he went over to one of his many computers, typing in a few commands. The glass shields around the hemisphere portion of Baxter's lab slid back into place, releasing a foul scent like gasoline and dead animals. Leonardo carefully walked over to the entrance, keeping his palms opened so Hun, Stockman, and Tai-Shen would not attack him. He entered the glass hemisphere, picked up Splinter from the ground, and moved back out, making sure not to offend anyone. The rat was unconscious, although Leonardo was foggy about what quite had happened to him.

Stockman complained to himself, "Two weeks worth of work up in flames. Just peachy."

Tai-Shen suppressed laughing at him, his eyes narrowed slightly. Leonardo store back at the warlock, carefully placing Splinter's weapons on the table. Both were cautious about the other, like two stags in a forest. Taking his eyes off Tai-Shen for only a moment, Leonardo nudged his father, "Come on, Sensei. Gotta wake up."

"I'd suggest that you let him rest.", Hun snickered, playing with one of April's locks, "He's not going to fight for a little while, is he, April?"

She bit his hand, then tried squirming loose from Hun's arms. It barely phased Shredder's lackey, his other hand tightening the chains around April's waist. She was forced to stop, the constriction nearly crushing her back. He smiled cockily, hoisting her closer into his grasp once again. Casey nearly charged at Hun, but Michaelangelo held him back.

"Smart boy.", Hun complimented Mikey's thinking, "Wouldn't want to make this any more painful than it has to be, right?"

"Depends how far you want to let this go.", Raphael's eyes pierced into Hun's gaze, "What the hell happened here?!"

Hun sighed, trying to control the situation once again, "I'll be asking the questions, freaks. And for the record, let's say your father tangled with . . .an old enemy."

Pausing to make sure everyone was still complying with his orders, Hun commanded, "From here on out, Tai-Shen will be dealing with you freaks. Do as he says, and I'll let the girl go."

Fair enough. Leonardo gave up trying to awaken his father, slinging the rat over his back. Ninjara scratched her nose, slightly irritated from this whole hostage situation, but if it was important to Raphael, she would do what it took. The group listened intently for their next set of instructions, Donnie's brain was furiously trying to come up with a plan. If there was just some way he could distract Hun for a moment so his brothers could get April . . .

Tai-Shen noticed Donatello thinking deeply, "So, you got my spell book, did you?" The sorcerer strolled over to the slightly shorter turtle, grabbing his old tome off the table. He checked it for damage, then threw it at the turtle, "What did you plan to do with this, really? You can't even read it!"

Don shrugged, opening the text again, "I thought maybe . . ." Tai-Shen slammed it shut again, snarling at him, "You thought wrong, freak." The human ripped the book out of Donnie's hands, opening it to the front page.

He explained the importance of the text, "This book has been passed down for generations. It is the book by which all of the Foot Clan Mystics learn their craft. It's a very complicated, shifty piece of work. You read it wrong, you could kill yourself. It's happened many a time." He flipped it to another page, checking for any more tears again, "Only one person can use it at a time, and that person is designated to be the leader of the Foot Mystic division. Guess who that is."

Tai-Shen laughed at Donatello's expression, reading his face like a magazine, "Tell you what, though. Humor me. I dare you to read it."

Leonardo's jaw dropped, almost beginning to argue with the mage. Raph shook his head, trying to avoid any complications. He hated being civil in dire crises, but April needed them to be orderly if they had a chance in hell of saving her. Mikey hid his face, hoping the worst wouldn't happen. Don cradled the book, staring at the text once again. It still was all gibberish to him.

Flipping to the front, he tried finding something in English or Japanese. All of it was still in some orient language, and he was beginning to doubt it was Chinese. There had to be something in the red-inked book that he could use to his benefit. He didn't want to accidentally kill anyone. The struggle for knowledge became much more frustrating than he thought it could be.

One of the lines of text began to glow a soft silvery blue, converting its strange symbols into plain English. Don read over it slowly, analyzing every word on the page like if he were studying for some kind of test. It seemed to call for a small piece of glass, so carefully Donnie picked a shattered piece off the ground from the massacred hemisphere. He looked at the decimated snake that lay inside, shivering for less than a second. He remembered that day too well—it was lucky that this time Splinter didn't need their aid.

_All right_, Don thought to himself, _I can do this. I know I can._ He held the piece of glass in between his index finger and thumb, then began to focus his mind. The text in the book kept running through his head, telling him what he needed to think. His brain started to tingle, the magic spell still being explained in his head. Finally, he fully understood the magic in front of him, his eyes opening with sudden surprise.

He crushed the glass in his hand, "Koppamijin!!"

Glass begin to shatter all over the room, starting first with Stockman's computers. The hemisphere exploded in a vast shower of fragments, the walls and floors giving way. Lightbulbs above their heads hissed in a display of sparks, singeing Don's skin slightly. April screamed in fear as the room went dark, hoping that Hun wouldn't try to kill her without her friends being able to help her. Something heavy hit the floor underneath Stockman's lab. The snake's carcass had dropped to the next floor, crushing something under its deadweight. Everything became silence.

Someone spoke out of the darkness, "Akari!" Small burning orbs began to light up the lair in a dull orange glow, barely enough for anyone to see. The look on Tai-Shen's face was something of a mystery, a mixture of confusion and disgust. Tsukano's master before him told him that one day he would be overcome, just as Tai-Shen had overcame his own master before becoming leader of the Foot Mystics. Here was a diamond in the rough, and he already had penetrated the secrets from the Mystic clan spell book! What confused Tai-Shen even more was that this turtle, this scum, was pure in heart!

The book had found **_him_ **worthy!

Tai-Shen snarled, "Hun! Let the girl go, and run. Get yourself, Stockman, and Oruku out of the building." The titanic warrior was confused, hesitating, "What are you doing?!" Growling under his breath, Tai-Shen was impatient, "I have seen the sun set for the last time. I will take them with me!"

Hissing once more, Tai-Shen cried, "Eikoudan!" A flash of energy seared out of his hands, slamming backwards into the conscious party of heroes. Hun quickly obeyed orders at the sudden flare of magic, throwing April to the ground and signaling for Stockman to leave. He knew that the sorcerer was stalling so the Shredder could escape—and with any luck, maybe he would destroy one of them. Despite the fact that Hun thought of all the spell casters in the Foot clan were bookish nerds, he couldn't help but feel some respect towards the one that was bold enough to take on the entire group of Turtles on his own. Both the heavyweight and the scientist escaped, locking the door behind them.

Casey dashed over to April's side, yanking the chains loose and helping her untangle herself. He grabbed her off the floor, running behind a table and kicking it up for protection. She hugged his neck, sobbing into his shirt, "Thank you, thank you so much." Casey was a little stunned, unsure of how he should react to this. He gave her a quick hug, murmured, "Stay here.", then yanked a computer monitor out of the wall. Hey, he might not be Bill Gates's best buddy, but computers make great throwing weights!

Leonardo snatched his swords off the table, dragging Splinter next to April. He kept looking around, trying to make some kind of a plan. Mikey was already going offensive, his nunchakus already back in his loving grasp. Raphael was having difficulties yanking his sai back out of the table, which Ninjara snickered at. Don was hanging back for the moment, looking to Leonardo for directions.

Finally, Leo got an idea, "Can you find something in there to protect these two?"

Don nodded, his breath rushed, "I can try, but what else should I do?"

Leo shrugged in a hurried fashion, "I don't know! I've gotta go out and fight!"

Don agreed, his brother flying off in a river of blue ribbons. He sat down next to April, flipping through the text. Another blue line of words popped up out of nowhere, sending him another spell. He studied for a moment, his eyes lighting up with surprise. Touching the table, he whispered, "Kakumau." A soft blue shield wrapped around the table, pushing Donnie out from his spot. That would have to work for now. He went and found another spot to cast spells from, hoping he could continue to help his brothers.

Tai-Shen grabbed onto Michaelangelo's foot, sending a shocking pulse throughout his body. The turtle screeched in pain, dropping to the floor. Leonardo remembered when he had used that attack before to paralyze his master, and a flutter of terror trembled in his heart. He kept the warlock occupied, slashing at him with massive grace. Although he was a rounder man, the wu jen was able to dodge several of Leonardo's slashes, save for a few lucky ones. Leo was getting frustrated quickly.

Raphael tackled into the human in a screaming rage, pinning him to the ground. Ninjara back him up, finally getting a nice slice across his body. In a sudden act of anger, Tai-Shen cast a small fireball at his enemies' faces, both quickly turning away from him in an act of reflex. Ninjara patted the small flames off of her fur, keeping her from becoming a burning candle. She growled, restarting her attacks against Tai-Shen once more.

Casey tried throwing the computer at the wizard, missing him by a long shot. The warlock turned back to the human, slamming the ground with his fist. A large bolt of energy crossed the floor, kicking up debris in its path. Casey's eyes widened, then he dodged the projectile. He still felt something scrape across his shoulder, but he felt lucky enough to be alive.

Unfortunately, the floor began to give way underneath them, the spell totally destroying any support systems left in the room. The entire floor dropped to the ground below them, crushing several vehicles in the process. Leonardo landed gracefully on the new floor, stumbling only over a hunk of mechanical parts. Mikey slammed on top of him, his body still numb. Raphael tumbled to the ground with relative ease, Ninjara landing next to him in a beautiful show of dexterity. He smirked, "Show off." Casey jumped onto a table, barely avoiding the crap along the walls of the new floor. He considered himself lucky. Don was also successful in safely coming down, but he credited that more to his training than to luck.

The strange shield that was around April and Splinter continued to protect them, gently placing them on the ground. It then disappeared, which slightly surprise April. She found another significant chunk of rubble that provided enough cover for them, but she had difficulties hauling Splinter over. She once heard a rumor that being unconscious makes a person a lot heavier, and she was beginning to believe that. Thankfully, she got both of them there in time before the crazed warlock tried to destroy them.

"Enough of this.", Tai-Shen shouted, then created a strange symbol in the air. It burst in a shower of sparks, a feline creature jumping out of the energy. Its fur was white, black stripes ripping across its body. Its eyes glowed a menacing red, slightly intimidating Leonardo. This was a demon tiger, one of which was said to be bad luck for those that crossed it. Of course, there was also a Chinese myth that called it a special guardian creature of the earth or wind, but Leo was more willing to place his bets on the bad for right now.

Raphael murmured, "This just got bad, didn't it?"

Casey didn't bother to ponder the situation, "GOONGALA!!" Grabbing another piece of debris, he charged at the demon. The tiger beast barely evaded Jones's bash, a small bloody scrap along its right side. He turned back around, waiting for the tiger to strike back. His eyes burned with an intense flame.

Instead of going after the human, the tiger raked at Leonardo, who stood only inches to Casey's left. The claws raked into his chest, leaving deep scratches down his shoulders and plastron. Thankfully, they didn't penetrate his shell, but it still hurt like knives. Leo wiped some of the blood off his body, then slashed back at the tiger, both swords finding their marks across its chest. Eye for an eye.

April looked to her left, noticing something gleaming out of the rubble. She pulled out her katana, finding it had survived the fall. Splinter's bow laid next to it, still in one piece. Most of his ammunition, however, had broken in the fall. A couple of arrows still remained, so she took that weapon with her. Maybe it would be of some use.

Someone groggily called for her, "Miss O' Neil?" Startled, she found Splinter had woken up. She dropped the weapons down next to her rubble shield, then asked him, "Splinter? You okay?"

The Sensei still seemed out of it, "I've been better. Where are my sons?" He looked out beyond the rubble, watching in fright as some giant white feline swiped at Leonardo. He tried standing up, pain surging through his hurt leg. April pushed him back down, "You can't go out there. Not like this."

He glanced hurriedly at the ground, finding that she had recovered his bow, "All right. I'll stay here and fight."

Her expression dropped, "You know you're going to get yourself killed someday, right?"

He nodded, preparing his aim, "Wise man once said, 'Hope I die before I get old.'"

Ninjara evaded a scalding blast from Tai-Shen, an acidic blob splashing where she used to be. She was sure getting sick of playing dodge-ball. Rolling under another charging creature, she was shocked to find the tiger had almost hit her. She snarled under her breath, turning her attention back to the warlock. The boys could handle the tiger; she was trying to stay focus on the more important thing.

Three more archaic symbols flashed through the air, forming beasts in strategic spots around the trashed room. Tai-Shen had summoned more creatures. This time, however, he had selected three simian demons, placing them around the turtles. Don frowned, bashing one back as he tried to focus on the situation. They needed a plan of attack before they were ripped to shreds!

Raphael decided that the best way to take out his enemies was to get the first strike. He jumped onto the back of one of the apes, slamming his sais in its back. Teeth latched into his left arm, but he barely noticed. He continued to stab the simian, growling with pain. He clenched his teeth together, pulling the ape down to the ground. This was going to get nasty.

Mikey defended Don while he looked for a new spell, the paralysis finally wearing off. Nunchaku drummed into the other two apes' heads, leaving sore bruises in their wake. Both tried swiping at Michaelangelo, the latter much more agile than them. He taunted the simians, yelling back to Donatello, "I hope you know what you're doing!"

Don nodded, then placed his hand out. A dark crackle of electricity shot from his palm, striking one of the demon apes. The simian howled in pain, vampire-like canines gleaming in the faint light. Lightening ran throughout his body, frying out his eyes and ears. Within seconds, it lay still on the ground, vanishing in a small puff of magical smoke. Don was impressed with his work—he always did try to do his best!

Leonardo and the great tiger circled each other, waiting for the other's move. A sort of dull intelligence burned in the tiger's eyes, which was a little unnerving. It finally bolted towards Leo, like a white arrow. The turtle rolled under the beast's claws, slicing at its belly. Blood and other bodily fluids sprayed on the cement floor, the cat glaring at Leo in sudden anguish. It collapsed on the ground, then disappeared like its other fallen comrade. He gasped in relief, then turned his focus to Tai-Shen.

The warlock was growing weary of this game, disturbed at the turtles' talents. Surely this was as good of a group as the Shredder had said. More white crackles filled the air as Tai-Shen's arms began to glow. They burst into blue flame, like a phoenix. Rising above the battle field, he spat a bizarre cold breath at the floor, sheeting everything with a thin lair of ice. He was no longer involved in mere child's play; this was war.

April shivered from the cold, her hands slightly frostbitten. She huddled behind the rubble, watching as Splinter launched another arrow into the hide of a nearby ape. Turning her head, she screamed in fear as another simian came around the back of their debris shield. Hiding her head in terror, she didn't see Casey Jones come to her rescue, knocking the ape back with the metal bar he had found. Opening one eye, she watched him pick up her katana and drive it deep into the ape's body. He yanked upwards and out, effectively exterminating the beast. She dropped her jaw in surprise.

"Casey . . .", she whispered, "I . . .I . . ."

Casey smiled back, "Don't worry about it, babe. I'm here."

Despite the stupid cocky grin on his face, she couldn't help but love him, "Thanks again . . ."

Ninjara took the third ape down to the floor, her fur glistening with snow. She lodged her wakazashi in its back, letting Mikey have the honors of killing it. He whirled his nunchakus quickly, bashing its skull in like a rotten pumpkin. Both now focusing on the sorcerer, Ninjara asked, "Anyone got a revolver?"

Donatello tried to fry Tai-Shen with the lighting attack again, watching it crackle into nothingness against the protection of his new fire wings. Raphael threw both of his sais at the warlock, watching as they both found their mark in his back. To his shock, they came flying back at him! He ducked behind a piece of rubble, barely dodging the blow. Another fireball came after them, blasting Raph backwards into a wall. He moaned in pain, getting back up to his feet.

"All right.", he muttered, holding one of his wounds, "This officially sucks."

The room's temperature kept dropping, more ice climbing up the sides of the walls. Don could see his own breath—definitely not a good sign for cold-blooded reptiles. Mikey shivered, his body twitching from the cold. Casey's hair had a fine frost on it, tingling like crystals every time he moved. This was getting way too chilly for everyone, except the fire-winged warlock that held domain over their health. Leonardo shuddered, almost dropping his katanas. His pulse was slowing.

Hands shaking, Splinter frantically search for another full arrow in his quiver. He found one shaft that hadn't been cracked yet, but its metal tip was missing. Finding a broken arrow, he quickly yanked the arrowhead off it, ignoring the cuts in his fingers. He wound it to the complete arrow, watching in horror as Donatello started to kneel down in defeat. April went over to his side, trying to keep him warm, but it was useless. The cold was freezing the turtles where they stood.

The air in his lungs forced him to cough, slightly setting off his aim. Focusing his will and his body, Splinter kept fighting against the cold, Ninjara finally giving into the chilled temperature. His jaw quivered, still trying to resist the temptation to shriek. Closing his eyes, frost glistening across them, he took aim once more, listening to the freezing world around him. His instincts told him to fire.

There was a deadly silence, every creature silent for over five seconds. Then, something echoed through the frozen wastes like a bullet in an empty hall. Metal pierced through flesh, bone, then muscle, striking Tai-Shen in the heart. He looked down to find the fine feathered edge of an arrow lodged in his chest. He noticed only the warm gaze of amber-brown irises before the world as he knew it became darkness.

As the sun rises, it must also set.

Splinter rose to his feet once more, bracing the side of the rubble. Every step felt like the stabbing of a thousand knives. Reaching Tai-Shen's corpse, he stumbled in shock. He watched the human burn, almost reveling in his victory. The frost began to disappear from his fur, sloshing off in sickening plops. Leonardo began to stir behind him, moving slowly towards the warming center of the room. His breathing regulated, eyes closed in joy. It felt like he had come back from the grave.

Michaelangelo weakly joked, "Dude, that sucked." He rubbed his arms, making sure that everything was working and had feeling again. The four mammals helped the turtles exit the room, warming them up as they went. Throwing themselves into the hallway, Raphael was glad to have feeling back in his toes. Ninjara fetched his sais, shoving them into their holsters along his belt. He felt like he could sleep for a very long time.

The wound in Splinter's leg began to bleed again, the frost agitating it. Never-the-less, he spoke, "It would be a good idea to move before someone finds us."

Leonardo agreed, standing back up. He sheathed his katanas, then helped his brothers get up. Don looked forlorn about having to leave his bag behind, but at least he didn't bring his laptop. Casey grabbed April, laughing despite what had happened. Once again, they had managed to pull their fat out of the fire. Within a few seconds, they were all on the move once again.

Don led them back to Tai-Shen's room, explaining, "A window will be the fastest way out for us." Nobody accosted them in the halls, surprisingly absent. Raphael thought it was a little suspicious, but kept everyone moving. Leonardo decided to haul Splinter, knowing that his leg would only slow them down.

Michaelangelo knocked the window out, bashing the glass out of place so it wouldn't scratch anyone. Raphael estimated the jump out the window, then grabbed a piece of rope from an emergency fire supply box in the hallway. He wrapped it tightly around his sai, jamming it into the window panel. He jumped out the window, sliding down to the backside of Shredder's skyscraper. He called up, then went over to April's van.

Within thirty seconds, all eight of them were on the bottom of the building. April unlocked her truck, taking the driver's seat. Casey stole shotgun, and the mutants all crammed into the back. Don locked the back door, then settled down as April drove off like a bat outta hell. They had made it out alive.

Leonardo suggested, "Maybe you guys should come crash at our place for a little while." April nodded, turning the street towards their home. Splinter sighed in relief, his dizziness starting to set back in. He was lucky enough to have pushed it out for how long he did. The world became increasingly heavy and quiet, blurring into one fuzzy scene.

He barely heard Michaelangelo, "Guys, I think Spli . . ." The world folded black once more. This time, however, Splinter was much more willing to accept it. His sons were safe.

-----

Upset? Of course he was. Depressed? No. Mourning deaths? Absolutely not. Oruku Saki had hired his men to dispose of the turtles—and they had managed to botch the job once more. Saki was much more forgiving to Hun than anyone else. The burly man, although strong, was not good at planning when disasters might strike. Tai-Shen was dead; nothing Saki could do about that either. Didn't mean he didn't enjoy torturing Stockman a little bit more.

Saki had played his cards as well as he could for the moment. Later, he would try again. That is what he did best. The past two weeks had been little more than a lucky fluke on his part, and he rose to the occasion. There would be other chances. Plenty more.

Besides, if it hadn't been for a chance meeting in the sewers, Saki would have accomplished nothing over the past weeks. He was content, for now. Chaos served him as well as law. He would eventually combine both. Saki knew what it took to shatter the turtles, and he would eventually.

All in good time.

-----

Epilogue:

Three days passed. Leonardo kept silent meditation, bandages wrapped around his slash wounds. Candles burned with a warm vanilla scent, helping his mind clear. He untwisted his nerves, slowly regaining his strength. The battle and cold had taken a lot out of him, and he hoped to get it back. Even through the silence of meditation, Leonardo smiled a lot more than he used to. He was happy to be home.

Donatello slept a lot, constantly tired for some unknown reason. When he was awake, he kept studying Tai-Shen's old magic book, learning more and more each day. He thought maybe the constant studying made him tired, but it was better than running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Mikey had that honor, anyway. He was living life to the fullest once again, skateboarding down the paths of the sewer. He was determined to have some fun.

Don also managed to contact Diana Anderson via e-mail one last time. He was stunned by her flat-out response, "I don't need your help." Splinter tried to help him understand that some people didn't really always need their assistance, but it was difficult for him. Some humans are best left alone. Going against his own nature, Don agreed. It was time to let Diana go the way of most humans and leave his mind. She would have a better life without them, anyway.

Raphael and Ninjara finally said their good-byes, the former dropping her off at her Chinatown abode. He did promise her, "If you ever need any help, we're here for you."

Ninjara agreed, "And vice versa, numb-nuts."

Their friendship had been reunited. That left a nice warm tingly feeling in Raph's heart. You know, the one he didn't have. No, Raph was still a hothead! He was large 'n in charge! He would kick anyone's ass that ever said he had a soft spot! ANYONE!!

Sitting on the couch on Fridays in the Turtle's home got less and less uncomfortable for April and Casey. Something had changed between them, although Casey couldn't figure out what. April would sometimes giggle to herself when she looked at him, and that drove him up the wall. Why did women have to be so weird all the time? If women weren't so hot, he didn't know what he'd do with them!

One entry from April's diary began: "Dear Diary—I think I'm in love!"

Splinter did not stay in his room for long, much to Donatello's dismay. As soon as his leg got better, he was back to wandering around the sewers. Lessons would start up again soon, but only if everyone was healthy enough to first. He didn't exactly fall for Michaelangelo's twisted ankle trick. At least, not every time. If the turtles were to choose, though, they would much rather have lessons than another incident.

So, we come back to the place we were before. The sewers. They are still as quiet as before, except for the running of sewage and water. The pipes still leak occasionally, and rats still have the run of the place. Our heroes are back, but they're not going to bother us. It is slightly safer to be down here now. After all, it's just the sewers—no monsters really live in New York.

As far as we know.

----End----

Author's note:

Well, there you have it. End of story. Time to jump off the roller coaster and find a new story to ride.

I hope you enjoyed reading. I enjoyed writing this. Hell, I love writing.

Anyway, special thanks to everyone that actually took the time to review. Without your response, I probably would have lost interest. So, it's cool to know that you're out there! Thanks!

Demonfox38—October 2003-June 2004


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